A mother from Indiana has been fighting to get citizenship for her son for a long time. She said it has been a “long and draining process.” Her son is an autistic, blind child that she adopted from Haiti. Her most recent application for citizenship was denied.
Rebekah Hubley told local news station WANE that she adopted her son Jonas in 2010. She said she recently tried applying for citizenship for her 17-year-old son.
She sent all the required paperwork for a “Petition for an Alien Relative” to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, but they rejected the application. However, according to Hubley, the agency claimed she didn’t provide all the required education records.
“He is a Hubley,” Hubley said, speaking to local news station WPTA. “We have adopted him. He has an Indiana birth certificate, and parts of the government have recognized everything, but then immigration won’t.” She also posted on Facebook that she didn’t think the agency reviewed her submitted paperwork thoroughly.
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However, since Hubley made her family’s situation public, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have not responded to her claims. She created a GoFundMe page to raise money for legal expenses. On the page, she described her son as a “medically complex” child who is blind, autistic, and has cerebral palsy and a seizure disorder.
Hubley said that her son requires “round-the-clock care.” He arrived in the States in 2008 from Haiti on a medical visa. Hubley legally adopted him in 2010 in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti.
The earthquake was catastrophic. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians lost their lives, and over a million more were left homeless. According to Hubley, she decided to adopt him because of the unstable conditions in Haiti.
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Now, Jonas will have to return to Haiti or be deported because of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ rejection. Hubley said her family has less than a month after the denial to comply.
“This is not fair,” Hubley told WPTA. “This should be illegal. Like, you are telling me my son is illegal, how is this legal to deport a completely dependent child to a country that you have deemed unsafe?”
Besides the GoFundMe, Hubley has been quite active on social media, drawing attention to her son’s situation. She even created a “JusticeforJonas” hashtag on social media. Hubley also told WANE that she had tried contacting the White House, President Joe Biden, her congressman, Rep. Jim Banks, and other lawmakers.
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Banks’ office responded, acknowledging that they are familiar with the case and doing their best to help Hubley and her son as much as possible. They also said that they could say so much due to privacy laws.
“I’m not just fighting for Jonas this year, I am fighting for all the other Jonas’ that are going through this same situation,” Hubley told WANE. “The ones that are cognitively understanding what is going on and terrified.”
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