Dingell Calls on Administration to Reverse Visa Rollback Impacting Adoption Case

Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-06) sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem requesting answers regarding the recently expanded pause on issuing immigrant visas for 75 countries, which has rolled back exceptions for international adoption visas.

"As you know, international adoption visas are only issued to a select group of children who have gone through multiyear processes with their prospective U.S. families before they can be adopted," Dingell wrote. "In 2023, only 1,275 international adoption visas were issued by the Department of State. Every international adoptee is subject to extensive vetting through both the foreign adoption process and U.S. immigration procedures. Pausing these visas prevents children who have already been legally adopted by U.S. families from coming home. These children are not national security threats.

"Constituents in my district are devastated," Dingell continued. "They have invested years in the international adoption process to grow their families and are now at a loss for how to proceed. They deserve answers to how the adoption process has changed for them and what timelines to expect moving forward. This is more than a legal process - it's a decision to show love, compassion, and care to a child and to embrace them as part of one's own family.

"Every single day matters for a child living in an orphanage waiting to be united with their family," Dingell concluded. "You have said that you will consider all adoption visa cases on a case by case basis for an exception under the National Interest Exception; this will create further delays in the adoption process. These unnecessary delays cause tangible harm, and this discriminatory policy will not protect children. It will keep them institutionalized and separated from families who are ready and legally approved to care for them."

Read the full text of the letter here.