Judge grants asylum to woman adopted by a US veteran from Iran after deportation threats

A California woman adopted from Iran as a toddler and raised in Wisconsin was nearly deported this year despite living and working in the U.S. for decades; a federal judge granted her asylum.
She endured humiliating treatment—ankle monitor, mug shot, fingerprints and DNA—while fearing the loss of her job and life she built here.
The case highlights a common 1970s-era adoption citizenship loophole (and lost embassy records after 1979), a problem made more fraught given current U.S.–Iran tensions.