Joe (born Mhamed Ellammada) is an intercountry adoptee. He was born in 1968 in Morocco and adopted by an American citizen. When Joe was four years old, his adoptive father and biological mother moved to the United States. For the first few years, Joe and his family lived on a military base (as his father was in the Navy) in Virginia where his parents finalized his adoption. When Joe was eleven his family moved to Beaumont, Texas where he lived for the majority of his life. In Texas, Joe attended high school, started his first job, and built a family. He lived in Texas for 42 years.

But in 2020, when Joe was 53 years old, he was deported to Morocco. Having left when he was only four years old, Joe no longer knew the language or culture, and had no known family.

Joe has been living in Morocco for the past five years. He has faced numerous barriers to find housing, employment, and health care. Being diabetic with an unsteady income, Joe has had to go weeks without his medicine and seeing medical professionals. You can hear Joe tell his story during an event with Adoptees for Justice here: https://youtu.be/buRB8N0uWCQ.

While Joe dreams of returning to the US and reuniting with his family and friends, he needs support to continue living in Morocco. The $1,000 from this fundraiser will go toward meeting Joe's basic needs including paying for food, housing, and medical appointments/supplies. Joe's diabetes medication and doctor's appointments cost approximately $50 per month. Additionally, Joe is in urgent need of dental work (he needs 2 teeth pulled out and 4 more checked out) which will cost approximately $400. Any additional funds that are raised will go towards Joe's housing and food expenses.

Joe and others would not be in this position had the U.S. government followed through with securing citizenship once they were adopted. While legislation passed in 2000 that secured citizenship for many adoptees, it also had a loophole that left out adoptees born earlier than February 17, 1983. Adoptees For Justice supports Joe and other adoptees without citizenship, and advocates for federal legislation to repair this loophole. You can learn more at https://www.adopteesforjustice.org.

Please be advised that this fundraiser has been established on behalf of Joe, with every donation directly benefiting him.