Saundra McDavid

In 1975 2,500 orphans were airlifted out of war-torn Vietnam and flown to homes in the United States and around the world in an initiative implemented by President Ford. Thirty years later some of those orphans are finding themselves threatened with deportation.

Michael Frailey was one of the Vietnamese children rescued by Operation Babylift. He arrived in the United States on April 4, 1975 to the welcoming arms of his adoptive parents, Gordon and Ginny Frailey of Arnold, Missouri.   Michael spent the next 34 years growing up as an American; enlisting in the Air National Guard and serving his country for six years, some of that time overseas, voting in elections, establishing a career at Xerox where he has worked for 21 years and getting married.  It wasn’t until Michael applied for a passport to take a scuba trip to Belize when he was 29 that he realized something was amiss.  The adoption paperwork had not been properly filed back in the 70’s.  Even though he had a social security number, adoption papers and a driver’s license, he was not a United States Citizen according to the INS (now USCIS).  In fact, according to USCIS, he was an illegal alien and now in danger of being deported.

During the next 13 years, Michael struggled through countless agencies and organizations, hiring an attorney and tracking his journey all the way back to the organization that arranged for his adoption back in the 70’s.   His investigation has put him in touch with other Operation Babylift orphans who are facing the same struggles.  President Ford’s Operation Babylift children are having their lives thrown in turmoil once again by bureaucratic paperwork.

Michael’s story has a happy ending.  After beginning the immigration process as if he had just arrived in the country (communicable disease tests, shots, background investigation, paperwork and time requirements) his struggle with USCIS ended on February 2, 2009 as he was sworn in as a US Citizen.  However there are more than 200,000 foreign-adopted children already living in the U.S. Many of them are facing the same problems as Frailey and are afraid to come forward for fear of being deported.   Others will not realize that there is a problem until they apply for passports and then will face the same nightmare from which Frailey has recently emerged.

Congress has acted to fix the problem for all new adoptees.  In 2001, the Child Citizenship Act (CCA) became effective, which allows any child under the age of 18 who is adopted by a U.S. citizen and immigrates to the United States to acquire immediate citizenship.  However this law provides no protection for older children, who through no fault of their own are facing deportation due to missing paperwork.  The children of Operation Babylift have been forgotten in the process.

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