A woman adopted from Iran as a toddler by an American war veteran now faces deportation under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. The Department of Homeland Security ordered her to appear for removal proceedings, citing an expired visa from 1974 when she was just 4 years old. She has no criminal record and works in corporate health care.

Her adoptive father, a WWII Air Force veteran, found her in an Iranian orphanage in 1972 and raised her as a Christian. The woman fears deportation to Iran could be a death sentence given her faith and the escalating tensions between the two countries. Immigration attorneys say she is among thousands of international adoptees who were never granted citizenship due to a gap in adoption and immigration law.

Despite years of attempting to rectify her legal status, the Department of Homeland Security has now threatened removal. A judge recently delayed her hearing and agreed she doesn't need to appear in person, avoiding potential arrest at the courthouse. The case highlights the ongoing struggle of older international adoptees left out of a 2000 law that granted automatic citizenship to younger adoptees. Christian advocacy groups, who have long lobbied Congress to address this issue, expressed horror at the prospect of deporting a Christian adoptee to Iran, calling it antithetical to American values of religious freedom.