Disabled Teen to Be Deported 13 Years After Adoption: 'Unconscionable'

An Indiana mother is fighting to prevent her teenage son with cerebral palsy from being deported more than a decade after his adoption.

Rebekah Hubley adopted her 17-year-old son Jonas from Haiti in 2010. Jonas is blind, autistic and has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and a seizure disorder. His adoption was disrupted after a 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti in 2010, causing his adoption paperwork to be lost. Hubley has worked for years to secure Jonas' citizenship and social security number, she told Newsweek Wednesday afternoon.

But on December 7, she received a letter from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) stating that his I-130 Petition for Alien Relative form was denied. The agency wrote that he has until January 2 to voluntarily leave the country, or he would be subject to immigration hearings and possible deportation.

USCIS wrote that Hubley did not have an option to appeal her son's case, she said.

"How low can we get as a government agency? This has to be rock bottom for immigration, that you could threaten to deport a profoundly disabled child who has been legally adopted for 13 years by two law-abiding U.S. citizens. And you can just throw around your power and threaten deportation," she told Newsweek via phone interview. "It's unconscionable. It's disgusting that it's happening. Is that who we are as a nation?"

Hubley was required to provide proof of the adoption, that she has had legal custody of Jonas for at least two years as well as two years of physical custody to USCIS after receiving a request for evidence in June 2023 concerning his citizenship. The agency denied his citizenship based on the physical evidence requirement, arguing that Hubley only submitted school records for the 2023 to 2024 year.

However, Hubley said school records from as far back as 2009 were included on other pages, and that the agent who received Jonas' case would have found them if they properly flipped through the documents.

After receiving the letter, Hubley took to Facebook to publish an open letter pleading with President Joe Biden to "intervene on his behalf to help" Jonas become a "lawful citizen of this great nation."

The post spread across social media, being shared more than 1,700 times. A couple that viewed her post offered to hire immigration attorney Kelly Dempsey to represent them, she said. She said those around her have been "amazing" by helping with the situation by raising awareness and calling their local representatives.

"These are people who have all known our situation for years, and they've watched Jonas either in real life, or like friends from college who have watched him grow up online, they know the injustice of this decision. No one was going to sit by and let it happen," she said.

Hubley has been in touch with Senator Todd Young's office, who filed for expedition with USCIS after Dempsey requested to reopen Jonas' case. But Hubley said she does not expect an update before the January 2 deadline for him to voluntarily leave.

She said the agency asking him to voluntarily leave is "the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard of in my life."

"How can you deport someone to a country that you have a level four travel warning on? You've deemed it completely unsafe, you've closed your embassies. You've pulled all of your workers out of the country and told Americans to leave, but you're threatening to deport a profoundly disabled child back to this country? None of this makes any logical sense, whatsoever. None of it. Hollywood would not even take a script like this because it's so preposterous," Hubley said.

Newsweek reached out to USCIS and the White House for comment via email.