Wishing Mike Davis a Very Happy Birthday–And Hoping for Good News

Posted on November 28, 2025 by Maureen McCauley

Happy 63rd Birthday, Mike!

Today must be bittersweet at best.

Mike is an Ethiopian adoptee, raise by his U.S. Army adoptive dad on military bases. Mike settled in Georgia. He got married, had children, and ran various businesses.

Over 30 years ago, he got into trouble with the law. He served his time, and has had no trouble with the law since then.

As is true for too many adoptees today, Mike was unable to prove his citizenship, despite his dad’s efforts: documents had been lost, government agencies failed to respond, and his lawyers were unreliable and uniformed about adoption and immigration laws. Mike was deported back to Ethiopia in 2005, and been separated from his friends and family since then. He has yet to meet his grandchildren in person.

We started a GoFund Me for Mike in June 2023. Mike is deeply grateful to all who have donated.

A total of $5250 has been raised over the last two and half years. Mike has used about $5000 of it, so roughly $2500 each year, to cover rent, food, access to water, legal fees, and medical care. His other sources of income are minimal at this point.

While that $210 a month goes fairly far in Ethiopia, it’s not much. He lives a hard life. His efforts to attain citizenship have involved document fees, lawyer fees, and more, at U.S. prices. It’s been an uphill climb in many ways.

Many folks in the adoption community want to let Mike know he has not been forgotten. Mike has had a rough time in Ethiopia, though he does not complain. He had no friends, no money, and no work when he arrived 20 years ago. He’s done his best to survive alone. Safe housing, food, and medical care haven’t always been easy to find. He’s dealing with health issues now in his early 60’s.

Please help. Donations have slowed significantly, and inflation/expenses are rising these days in Ethiopia.

Please join me in wishing Mike a Happy Birthday, and donate to our GoFund Me. Please share the GoFundMe with others.

So many people support international adoption. Please support international adoptees as well, in this case a now-63 year old man who made a mistake over 30 years ago, and who believed (as many adoptees do) that he had citizenship (he paid taxes, he paid into Social Security). His wife, his sons, and his grandkids would love to have him back.

Mike is a good person. Adoptive families and adoptees have met up with him in Addis, which has brought him great joy.

As a community, I invite everyone to wish Mike a good birthday, and to send your prayers, blessings, and hopes that he might return to the U.S., which was supposed to be his forever home.

Many thanks. Amasegenallo (thank you in Amharic).

Please also support the valuable work of Adoptees for Justice, who have helped Mike and many other adoptees in positive, productive ways. They are a hard-working, amazing organization.

Update on Mike Davis, Deported Ethiopian Adoptee

Posted on August 18, 2025 by Maureen McCauley

Mike is, of course, much more than a deported Ethiopian adoptee. He’s a very good person, husband, father, grandfather, an entrepreneur who ran a pizza place, a gas station, a convenience store, and more. He and his adoptive father, a U.S. Army Master Sergeant, both thought Mike had citizenship. Bureaucratic errors apparently won out. When Mike got in trouble with the law in 1991, he served his time, and has had no legal trouble since. Nonetheless, he was deported, alone and without money, employment, or knowledge of the language, to Ethiopia in 2005.

Mike does not complain about his life there, but it is very hard. He has learned Amharic, and he has found ways to provide food and basic shelter.

In June 2023, we started a GoFundMe for Mike. We’ve raised about $5000 since then, and that money has made an enormous difference for Mike. He’s been able to get medicines, and to see doctors for his gout and dentists for his teeth pain. The funds have helped with legal costs, including filing fees for documents and other attorney charges. He’s used the funds to get shoes and socks, as well as a water tank and water for his home.

If you have helped in any way, many thanks!

Thank you also to all the folks who have visited with him. Recently, a group of Ethiopian adoptees spent a bit of time with Mike in Addis. The young people are part of the Ethiopian Adoptees Foundation, and Mike loved visiting with them. Thank you to Mari and each of the wonderful visitors.

Visitors like this, plus the adoptees who visit Addis with their families, mean the world to Mike.

His efforts to return home have not yet been successful, especially in the current US political climate. You’d think a 63-year-old man who was adopted to the US as a little boy, who committed a crime over 30 years ago, who took responsibility for his transgression and served his time, and who was deported over 20 years ago: you’d think he’d be allowed to return to his wife, children, and grandchildren. That hasn’t yet happened. We keep Mike and his family in our hearts. We are deeply grateful to his lawyers. We remain hopeful and optimistic. We appreciate all the prayers and good wishes.

Over the last two years, Mike has been frugal and thoughtful about his expenses, spending small amounts on life necessities: rent and food mostly. He is always gracious and appreciative when visitors bring him socks, tee shirts, and the occasional bag of Snickers bars.

Please help us keep Mike’s spirits up. His health is fair, but being elderly and alone in Ethiopia is not easy. His legal costs have added up, and we are hopeful that there will be good news.

We have had no donations for 6 months.

If you can donate, that would be wonderful, Even small amounts make a big difference. Please share the GoFundMe with others as well, and please send good wishes that Mike can return home.

You can read Mike’s essay, “An Ethiopian Adoptee Deported to Ethiopia,” in our anthology Lions Roaring Far From Home. All revenue from sales goes to help Ethiopian adoptees.

A Podcast With Ethiopian Adoptee Mike Davis, Speaking Out for Citizenship for All International Adoptees

Posted on October 28, 2024 by Maureen McCauley

Mike Davis, a 61-year-old Ethiopian adoptee deported to Ethiopia in 2005, did a wonderful job in talking about his hopes for citizenship for himself and all international adoptees, on a podcast with Unraveling Adoption.

I was honored when Mike asked me to join him on the podcast, hosted by Beth Syverson. (Be sure to check out Beth’s other podcasts and resources on Unraveling Adoption.) I appreciated Beth’s compassion and openness. Mike was focused and strong, for which I give him great credit given the harshness of his situation.

You can help Mike with his legal and medical issues via this GoFundMe. All the money goes to Mike, for legal expenses as well as doctor bills and medicines. It is not easy to be alone in a country far from family and friends, and to have significant health issues. Mike has been working with Adoptees for Justice and their lawyers (thank you!) to, we deeply hope, return home to his wife, children, grandchildren, and friends. Many thanks to all who are able to donate, and for sharing the GoFundMe.

If you want more information on ways to help all international adoptees gain citizenship, check out this blog post.

International adoptees prior to 2000 were not granted automatic citizenship, contrary to what many in and out of the adoption community might think. Some have been deported. Many fear being deported. Please join Mike and others in advocating for citizenship for all international adoptees. Please help Mike and all deported adoptees come back home.

Why Are Americans—and Especially Adoptive Parents—Not Outraged by the Deportation of International Adoptees?

Posted on October 25, 2024 by Maureen McCauley

“The U.S. is unique in this: No other nation that has taken in adopted children deprives them of citizenship.”

That’s a quote from an AP article, “Thousands of children adopted by Americans are without citizenship. Congress is unwilling to act.”

It’s plausible that adoptees without citizenship could be included in mass deportation actions.

Thousands of international adoptees, brought here to the U.S. for adoption from an assortment of countries,, do not have citizenship, through no fault of theirs. The children were not responsible to obtain citizenship. Adoption agencies, adoptive parents, and the U.S. government had and have responsibility–not the adoptees.

Citizenship is handled through federal legislation (not on a state level). Our federal government has not yet acted to help these children, who are now adults. Adults who often didn’t know they were not citizens. (If they vote, they are committing a felony.) Adults who now live in fear. Adults who worked all their lives and cannot access Medicare or Social Security. Adults who committed a crime, served their sentence, and then were deported. Adults who were brought here to live with “forever families” and were deported, now living in a place with no family, no friends, often no language. They are often severely limited in ways to support themselves. They are living in horrific poverty. loneliness, and isolation. Many were adopted by U.S. military officers, and now the U.S. denies the adoptees citizenship, through no fault of the adoptee.

Bureaucrats and virulent anti-immigration sentiments are destroying the lives of international adoptees. Some of those bureaucrats are ostensibly pro-adoption, pro-life. The hypocrisy is devastating, and thousands of adopted people are at risk.

Please read the AP article. Please share it with others.

Mike Davis, pictured above, has been separated from his family since his deportation to Ethiopia in 2005. His wife and sons are waiting to welcome him home. He has five grandchildren he’s never met. He has significant health problems. As an international adoptee, whose adoptive dad was a U.S. Army officer, how much does he have to be punished?

Adoptive parents, and anyone else, please take action.

Contact your federal Senators and Representatives and ask them to sign on to the Adoptee Citizenship Act. In the U.S. Senate, the bill is S. 4448.

Right now the Senate bill has a total of 7 co-sponsors. That’s right: only 7 U.S. Senators (out of 100) are willing to work for citizenship for all international adoptees. That’s just over 5% of our Senators.

In the U,S, House of Representatives (435 Members), the bill is H.R. 8617. So far, the bill has 23 co-sponsors, or also just about 5% of the House.

You can find your U.S. representative in the House here., and your U.S. Senators here. You can send a brief email saying you are their constituent and you want them to co-sponsor the Adoptee Citizenship Act. It’ll take just a few minutes, and it could make an enormous difference. Thank you.

Other actions are to support the work of organizations such as Adoptees For Justice, Alliance for Adoptee Citizenship, Adoptees United, the Southern Baptists’ Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and any others working to provide this basic right. Stay informed, and share the information with others.

Contribute to the Mutual Aid Fund of Adoptees For Justice to provide funds for deported adoptees, who are often struggling mightily.

If you have any connection to adoption, if you believe in adoption, if you care about adoptees, please take action.

Deported Ethiopian Adoptee and the Need for Congressional Action: WABE

Posted on August 29, 2024 by Maureen McCauley

An important new story from WABE, an Atlants-based NPR/PBS station: Georgia Adoptee deported due to legal loophole that Congress is now trying to fix.”

The story focuses on Mike Davis, born in 1962 and adopted from Ethiopia by a U.S. Army sergeant in 1972. Mike spent his life in America believing he was a U.S. citizen. In 1993, he was committed a crime, went to a boot camp, and was on probation for three years. Then the United States in 2005 deported him to a country he no longer knew at all, leaving his wife, his children, his home, his businesses, and now his grandchildren behind.

As WABE notes, “Davis is one of tens of thousands of adults in the U.S. who did not receive automatic citizenship with adoption….Congress is now trying to address this loophole in federal law that has left many adoptees in limbo.”

Congress has had many opportunities in the past to close this inequitable, unethical loophole. I am among so many folks who hope that our Congress will recognize that all children brought here for purposes of international adoption, with the legal oversight of both the U.S. and the child’s country of origin, should have automatic citizenship.

Per WABE: “Nick Greene is a California-based adoptee who advocates for citizenship for all adoptees. He said sometimes, people find out they aren’t citizens only when they try to apply for Social Security or Medicare. Under the Child Citizenship Act, adoptees born before Feb. 27, 1983, are not able to obtain citizenship through their citizen parents.

“So that’s going to be like 40, 50, 60-somethings,” he said. “You grew up as an American. You lived as an American for 60-plus years. For some of them it’s been a decade they’ve been just doing this battle.”

Congress is considering two pieces of legislation that would retroactively grant citizenship to adoptees who did not automatically get it when they came to the U.S. The legislation also allows for people who were deported, like Mike Davis, to repatriate to the U.S. where he would be reunited with his family.”

Adoption legislation affects adoptees, who had no agency over the decisions made for them when they were minors. The legislation also affects the children and grandchildren of adoptees, and adoptees themselves when they are deep into adulthood, including at retirement age.

You can help by learning more, via Adoptees for Justice, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, and Adoptees United.

You can also help by donating and spreading the word about this GoFundMe for Mike, which is helping with his legal and medical costs. Many thanks.

Mike Davis is among the writers of “Lions Roaring Far From Home: An Anthology by Ethiopian Adoptees.”

Zoom Meeting with Mike Davis, Deported Ethiopian Adoptee: Rescheduling

Posted on July 8, 2022 by

UPDATE: Unfortunately we need to reschedule this Zoom meeting. probably until September. We really appreciate the concern and support for Mike and his family. Please feel free to send me a message (via the Contact page) if you have any questions. Thank you.

POSTPONED:

Please register for this Zoom (info is below) and share widely! Thank you.

Join us Sunday July 31 at 9am pdt for a Zoom with Mike Davis, an Ethiopian adoptee who was deported to Ethiopia in 2005. Mike’s wife Laura, who lives in the U.S., and perhaps one of their sons, will also be with us.

Mike is almost 60 years old. Born in Addis Ababa in 1962, he was adopted when he was around 8 years old by a U.S. Army officer who was stationed in Ethiopia. In 1976, when Mike was 14, he and his dad returned to the U.S., with the legal approval of both Ethiopia and the United States. Mike grew up on military bases, and believed that America was his forever home. He had several small businesses, such as pizza place and a gas station. He married and had children. About 30 years ago, he got in some legal trouble, and accepted the consequences. He has had no trouble with the law since. Nonetheless, because he had less than excellent legal representation and could not prove citizenship, he was deported.

Yes: the U.S. government deports people who were legally brought as children to the United States for the purpose of adoption. The U.S. deports people who had no choice or agency in their immigration, and who arrived here with the legal sanction of both the United States and their country of origin. The U.S. deports people who were adopted to so-called “forever families,” people who had no means of responsibility for the processing of their citizenship, and then returns them to countries where they have no family, friends, language, or other connections.

Mike’s beloved dad passed away in 2012, and he could not, to his great sorrow, attend the funeral. His sons have grown up without him, and his wife has worked hard to support the family and to encourage Mike. He has grandchildren he has never met.

Mike is one of the writers whose essay is included in our book, Lions Roaring Far From Home: An Anthology by Ethiopian Adoptees. The Ethiopian adoption community, and many other folks, want to help Mike. The co-editors of Lions Roaring, Aselefech Evans and Kassaye Berhanu MacDonald, Ethiopian adoptees themselves, are a pivotal part of this effort.

Mike Davis, in Addis, 2021 via Also-Known-As interview

Our Zoom conversation with Mike and his family will take place on Sunday July 31 at 9am pacific time. (Please double check your time zone!)

Here is the link to sign up for the Zoom conversation:

Sunday, July 31, 2022 09:00 Pacific Time (US and Canada)

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

We hope to raise awareness about adoptee deportation, and its unfair, devastating effect on adopted people and on their families. We will also be fundraising for Mike’s legal, medical, and living expenses.

Please join us.

A “Lions Roaring” Update: Zoom with Mike Davis, A Deported Ethiopian Adoptee

Posted on June 15, 2022 by

We will soon announce the pre-order and publication date of “Lions Roaring far From Home: An Anthology by Ethiopian Adoptees,” and we will soon be hosting a Zoom for a deported Ethiopian adoptee, now almost 60 years old.

“Lions Roaring” is the first anthology entirely by Ethiopian adoptees. The funds from the sales of the book will be used for Ethiopian adoptees. We are creating an account for the revenue and will distribute it to Ethiopian adoptees for DNA tests, travel costs to and from Ethiopia, translation services, and more.

One of our writers is Mike Davis, whose adoptive father was a U.S. Army officer. Mike grew up on Army bases with his dad. Mike went on to get married, have children, and build several small businesses. He got in some trouble, and completed the sentence he was given—he got in no further trouble after that. However, years after, he was deported, as a result of not being able to prove citizenship. Inept lawyers and a difficult legal system added to the adversity. In 2005, at the age of 43, Mike was deported to Ethiopia, where he had no family, no job, no connections.

He is now almost 60. It is time for him to come back to his family in the United States.

Mike Davis, deported Ethiopian adoptee. Let’s work to bring him home.

Many folks, including Mike’s wife and children, have been working hard to bring him back home to the United States. He was not able to attend his beloved father’s funeral, and he has yet to see his grandchildren in person. It is past time to bring Mike, and all deported international adoptees, back home. They came to the U.S. with the legal sanction of both the U.S. and the country of origin, and with the understanding that the U.S. was a safe and permanent home for them. Our government has failed to honor that understanding of adoption, and that is a shameful reality.

We will soon be hosting a Zoom talk with Mike and his wife, so that more folks can learn about his situation, and also to raise funds for his legal costs and other expenses. More details will be available soon. We hope that you will join us.

For updates on the anthology (including publication date) and Zooms, please visit and “Like” the Lions Roaring Far From Home Anthology Facebook page.

Postscript: I’ve written numerous times over the years about the need for Citizenship for All Adoptees. You can get more information at Adoptee Rights Law, Adoptees For Justice, and Alliance for Adoptee Citizenship. If anyone wants to donate directly to Mike, please email me at Maureen@LightofDayStories.com.

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