By Gustavo Solis / Investigative Border Reporter

Contributors: Charlotte Radulovich / Video Journalist

Shirley Chung was just 16 months old when an American family adopted her from South Korea in 1966.

She was raised by a Black family in Texas, went to a mostly white school and attended a mostly Black church. Growing up in a mixed-race family, she became accustomed to questions about her identity.

“’What are you? What are you?’ I’ve heard that my whole life,” she said. “From when I was a little girl, and my mother would have to answer the question.”

But one thing she never questioned was her identity as an American.

That is, until she misplaced her Social Security card and tried to get a new one. She was 57 at the time.

“When I get to the Social Security office, that’s when they told me, ‘We can’t give you your card, you need to prove your status in this country,’” she recalled. “I didn’t know what that meant.”

It meant that Chung wasn’t actually an American citizen. Someone — either her adoptive parents or the adoption agency — never completed the paperwork required to establish citizenship, she said.

The shocking discovery triggered feelings of not belonging.

“You’re not white enough, you’re not Black enough, you’re not Korean enough,” she said. “And now you’re not American enough. Now your future is no longer secure.”

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