Some countries send more than 50% of their immigants to the US for adoption

I compared the total number of immigrant visas issued in 2010 to the number of adoption visas and discovered some interesting percentages of immigrants admitted to the US for adoption. Here are the top 20 countries by percentage. The ones especially interesting vis-a-vis international adoption are bold.

I hope to find the data to do more years, especially ones of peak activity from Korea, China, and Guatemala.

I'm sure that some of these are adoptions by relatives rather than brokered by the adoption industry, but I'm sure that these are insignificant in the most popular sending countries.

The data comes from the FY 2010 Annual Report on Intercountry Adoptions from the State Department and the Migration Policy Institute Data Hub.

COUNTRY

TOTAL VISAS ISSUED

ADOPTIONS

%

Lesotho	23	13	56.52%
Marshall Islands	37	19	51.35%
Swaziland	22	8	36.36%
American Samoa	14	3	21.43%
Ethiopia	14,266	2513	17.62%
Russian Federation	6,718	1082	16.11%
Kazakhstan	1,282	181	14.12%
Latvia	435	39	8.97%
Rwanda	489	40	8.18%
Estonia	260	19	7.31%
Guinea-Bissau	30	2	6.67%
Uganda	1,085	62	5.71%
Ukraine	8,477	445	5.25%
China (excluding Hong Kong)	70,863	3401	4.80%
Taiwan	6,732	285	4.23%
Korea	22,262	863	3.88%
Malawi	164	4	2.44%
Democratic Republic of Congo	1,764	42	2.38%
Dominica	366	7	1.91%
Mozambique	53	1	1.89%

Chinese Babies Sold for Adoption and Become Involuntary Immigrants

Another article documents how we become involuntary immigrants.

And how international adoption is child trafficking.

How a Broke Chinese Province Sold Kidnapped Babies to America for Adoption


And Obama said a lot of nothing about reforming the immigration non-system.

So, a stolen and sold baby from China could be deported back to China and, if she finds any relatives, she cannot sponsor them for an immigration visa.

Immigrant adoptees rally on May 1

Or they should have...

This past weekend the adult adoptee-run organization Also-Known-As celebrated it's 15-year anniversary. The main events were on Saturday April 30. The next day, of course, was May 1, also known as International Worker's Day. Thousands of people rallied in Union Square, marched to Foley Square, and demanded rights and reform for immigrants and union workers. But, there were no adoptees representing ourselves as immigrants and adoptees. What a missed opportunity! Here were 150 adoptees, all immigrants, already organized, and no one thought about organizing us into a contingent for the rallies.

Well, there's always next year, I suppose. Because, unfortunately, I don't think that the fight will be won by then. What do you think adoptees and allies? Will you join the fight on May 1, 2012?

Papers

An adoptee posted on Facebook via his wife from the hospital, "Why can't Donald Trump lean on New York State to display MY original birth certificate?!"

 Show Me Your Papers Negro.

From Arizona to Obama, the issue of official records has been put into the foreground of the national conversation, as if papers are more important than the people that they're supposed to document. In our low-context culture Americans discredit reality if there's not an officially sanctioned, government-produced certificate that validates who we are. It doesn't seem to matter what we do.

Want a beer? Have your IDs OUT!
But I'm 50 years old!

This is your house? Give me the deed.
I was born here. My mother was born in the back bedroom. My grandfather built this house on land my uncle gave him.

Are you qualified? I need to see your diploma.
I have been working here for 15 years!

Are you poor? Show me your tax return.
Yes, I live with 10 other people in a 2 bedroom apartment with one bathroom just to appear poor.

Are you really American? Let's see your birth certificate long form birth certificate.
But I'm the president of the United States!

Are you her father? You're white and Jewish and she's a Black Haitian girl...And you're married to man.
Here are the papers proving she's my child.

But, as the adoptee points out above, this is only true when it serves people in power. None of this enthusiasm for officialdom serves the people it is documenting.

Although the need for legitimatizing seems obvious to us, it's actually a cultural trait ingrained in Americans. Furthermore, it short-circuits our development of trust and observation, and often blocks justice. Even when it's ridiculous.