U.S. Deporting Man To South Korea; He Hasn't Been There Since He Was Three Years Old

Adam Crapser, 41, is about to be deported to South Korea
even though he hasn't been there since he was three years old.  

In a case that's both strange and mean-spirited, the United States is deporting a 41-year-old man with a wife and kids to South Korea.

He hasn't set foot in South Korea since he left that country to live with foster parents in the United States.

Adam Crapser was brought to the United States when he was three, but his abusive foster parents never filed his citizenship paperwork, reports Slate and numerous other news outlets.

He ended up being abused by various foster parents until he was kicked out of the house at 16. He was kind of messed up from the abuse and ended up committing a burglary, and getting an assault conviction for a fight with a roommate. He also violated a protective order from an ex-girlfriend when he tried to phone his son.

This all happened when he was young. Crapser by all accounts has cleaned up his life and is a law-abiding stay-at-home father to four children.

Well, he was until he was detained.

Slate says Crapser has been in detention for nine months and couldn't stand being there any longer. So he waived an appeal to fight the forced removal from the United States, says his attorney, Lori Walls.

According to the Associated Press:

"In an email Walls said Adam was eligible for a deportation reprieve called 'cancellation of removal' but the 'judge decided he did not deserve this relief.'

'He will be deported as soon as Immigration and Customs Enforcement makes the necessary arrangements,' Walls said. 'Adam, his family and advocates are heartbroken at the outcome.'"

I guess immigration officials figure rules and rules and they have to be adhered to no matter how nonsensical the results are of following those rules.

Crapser has little idea about the language, culture and job situation in South Korea, and unlike in the United States, he has no known family there.

But nope. His abusive foster parents didn't do the citizenship papers, and his criminal history means he's got to go. Even if he's been a good American for the past decade or more, even though he isn't officially American, in terms of citizenship papers.

Like I said let's just follow the "rules" even if they don't actually help anything.

Last year the Oregonian quoted him thusly:

"I care....I want to be here. I want to stay here. So I just ask everybody to just please,  you know, have some leniency on me... All I want to do is be the best American I can be. I don't want to be this broken, screwed up guy. Just don't take me out of the United States."

I'm sure South Korea is just itching to get this guy, too. I mean, couldn't he contribute more to American society than South Korean?