Judy Van Arsdale and Emily Warnecke were both adopted and brought to the United States by U.S. citizen parents as children. Despite being adopted and becoming integral members of American families, their citizenship was never secured.

As a result, both Judy and Emily are being denied critical benefits such as social security and disability benefits, and are struggling with poverty and housing insecurity. To make matters worse, even though they have lived in the United States for almost 50 years, they wake up every morning in fear of being detained and deported to countries where they cannot speak the language, do not know the culture, and would face great social and economic difficulties.