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Foreign-born adoptees deported, Strawberry Mansion questions high school plans | Morning Newsletter

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Korean adoptee Adam Crapser, left, with daughters, Christal, 1, Christina, 5, and his wife, Anh Nguyen, in the family's living room in Vancouver, Wash. in 2015. Crapser, whose adoptive parents failed to make him a U.S. citizen, was deported to South Korea in 2016.
Korean adoptee Adam Crapser, left, with daughters, Christal, 1, Christina, 5, and his wife, Anh Nguyen, in the family's living room in Vancouver, Wash. in 2015. Crapser, whose adoptive parents failed to make him a U.S. citizen, was deported to South Korea in 2016. Read more(AP Photo/Gosia Wozniacka)

Welcome to a new week, Philadelphia. This morning we're focused on the stories of foreign-born adoptees who are shocked to find they are not American citizens because their adoptive families assumed citizenship was automatically theirs. In recent immigration crackdowns, many have been sent back to countries in which they know no one or that they don't even remember. Just like at our borders, the trend has sadly led to more families being separated. Over in Strawberry Mansion, the community is up in arms over the future of its high school. Neighbors are suspicious of school district plans for the building, which include ending high school programs there, just as the area starts to gentrify. Certainly this story is just beginning. Let's dig in, shall we?

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— Aubrey Nagle (@aubsn, morningnewsletter@philly.com)

» READ MORE: Foreign-born adoptees discover they’re not American citizens

As the President and his administration crack down on immigrants on all fronts, one group is facing a quiet crisis: foreign-born adoptees.

A new study estimates that as many as 49,000 adult adoptees, adopted by American families and brought here as babies and young children, lack U.S. citizenship — and many have found out their status by accident.

Some have even already been deported to homelands they don't remember.

» READ MORE: Food rescuers race to battle waste, hunger

Did you know experts say between 30 and 40 percent of all the food produced in the U.S. is wasted? From restaurants' unsold goods to food that goes unharvested from farms, there's a lot to go around.

And yet one in five Philadelphians and one in 11 Bucks County residents go hungry.

So a few volunteer organizations of food rescuers are doing what they can to fight both issues by shuttling leftovers from local eateries to those in need. Not all heroes wear capes.

» READ MORE: Is gentrification closing Strawberry Mansion High School?

Strawberry Mansion High School has been on a roller coaster ride of improvement and nay-saying in recent years after being saved from closure in 2013 only to rise and once again fall in performance and attendance.

Now the Philadelphia School District says it's phasing out its high school program there in exchange for alternative programs and that it will resume traditional graduating classes in 2023.

The local community isn't convinced. Critics say the timing is suspect considering the neighborhood's increasing gentrification.

What you need to know today

  1. Rescue crews have recovered the body of a 30-year-old woman who went into the water at Pennypack Park in Northeast Philadelphia Saturday night and failed to emerge. Reports say the woman was taking pictures with her boyfriend when she was swept away by fast moving waters.

  2. Tuesday is primary election day in New Jersey. The state's in a position to flip some U.S. House districts currently held by Republicans, so the usually sleepy election, featuring a female Navy pilot, a pro-gun dentist, and the guy Christie told to shut up, is now on the national stage.

  3. Sunoco's Mariner East pipeline is affecting real estate prices in Chester and Delaware Counties, but for residents who moved in without knowing construction was on the way, it's affecting their everyday lives, too.

  4. The fate of Bryan Colangelo, the Sixers' president of basketball operations accused of criticizing the team on Twitter, will be determined soon. In the meantime he's fighting for his job and reporter Keith Pompey wonders what his legacy will be if he is let go.

  5. Tuesday marks five years since the building collapse at 22nd and Market Streets claimed seven lives. The most grievously injured survivor lost her legs in the disaster, but now she's finding her future again after years of pain.

  6. The interim Haddonfield schools chief David T. Lindenmuth has stepped down, a decision the School Board President says is unrelated to his controversial cancellation of the high school boys' lacrosse season after a player used a racial slur against another student.

Through Your Eyes | #OurPhilly

Rittenhouse Square is always a great spot for beautiful scenery, @stev_elli.

Tag your Instagram posts or tweets with #OurPhilly and we'll pick our favorite each day to feature in this newsletter and give you a shout out!

That’s Interesting

  1. On the first leg of its Israel tour, which had been protested both in Philly and in Brussels, the Philadelphia Orchestra's Sunday performance in Haifa passed without interruption — except by music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin himself.

  2. The Phillies had a rocky series against the Giants, scoring only one run in the sweep. But fans can trade their pain for hope this week as Monday kicks off the MLB Draft and the Phillies have the third overall pick.

  3. Ever-popular Eagle Carson Wentz led his teammates in a friendly game of charity softball Friday, but that's not all his AO1 Foundation is up to. He's also launching a new food truck.

  4. A 23-year-old University of the Arts grad just became one of the first black women to illustrate the cover of the New Yorker. You have to see her vibrant work.

  5. You don't have to ask Christopher Johnson if bowling is a sport. The local junior league champ is headed to college on an unusual bowling scholarship, all the way to North Carolina.

  6. What happens to all those flower arrangements at the end of a wedding? Thanks to one local nonprofit, blooms often wind up in nursing homes and hospitals.

Opinions

"As athlete activists consider what's next, they should remember that they were never going to kneel their way to bail bond reform or the elimination of mandatory federal sentencing." — Benjamin Orbach, CEO of the Ascendant Athlete LLC, on what NFL athletes should do next in the wake of a new national anthem policy.

  1. Columnist Christine Flowers used to be a fan of Samantha Bee, but Bee's use of a slur against Ivanka Trump has her boycotting the comedian's show.

  2. Despite their critics, the city deserves credit for clearing heroin encampments in Kensington and offering aid to those in addiction, writes the Inquirer Editorial Board.

What we’re reading

  1. Mayor Jim Kenney's Rebuild initiative has been held up over concerns about the diversity of the workers used to complete the construction projects. So, the Philadelphia Citizen took a close look at Philly's union diversity to see how far solutions must go.

  2. The Callowhill neighborhood is changing, but will establishing a Business Improvement District hold it together? As PlanPhilly writes, a developer-led initiative to create one raises some interesting questions.

  3. Philadelphia Magazine's profile of a Quaker sex-ed teacher who wants kids to be "porn literate" isn't just meant to shock, it's really an enlightening read.

  4. Cosmetology programs in women's prisons can be a boon to inmates preparing for life after release, but as Refinery29 reports with an at times disturbing look at the programs, beauty behind bars plays into dangerous power struggles.

  5. The story of how one of Britain's biggest seabird colonies, once full of puffins, guillemots and razorbills, went silent this year due to climate change is a devastating read, via the Guardian.

Your Daily Dose of | Books

Need some beach reads? Look no further than reporter John Timpane's recommendations for summer-ready fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.