India appeals to Clinton on deportation case

Kairi Abha Shepherd, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, being sent to India after she was convicted of forgery.

AFP: India's foreign minister said on Wednesday he raised with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the case of an Indian woman who was adopted in the United States as an infant and now faces deportation.

In a case that has caused concern in India, 30-year-old Kairi Abha Shepherd, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, faces being sent to India after she was convicted of forgery.

"I put it across to Secretary Clinton that the United States will have to look at it from a humanitarian point of view," Foreign Minister SM Krishna told reporters after talks with Clinton in Washington.
Krishna voiced confidence that Clinton will "certainly look into it" but said he did not receive concrete promises.

"I think on an issue like this, specific assurances are not available but they have taken note of the government of India's concern," he said.

Shepherd, an orphan, was adopted in India at the age of three months in 1982 by a single US woman, who adopted nearly a dozen children from across the world.

The Utah woman died of cancer when Shepherd was eight, after which she was cared for by guardians. No one completed paperwork for US citizenship and Shepherd has no known relatives in India.

US authorities have often faced criticism at home and abroad for their zealousness in deportations of illegal immigrants and legal residents convicted of violations.

The United States accepts more immigrants each year than any other country, but immigration is a heated political issue.