A federal immigration judge has granted asylum to a California woman who was orphaned in Iran in the 1970s and adopted by an American military veteran, ending a months-long legal battle against deportation. The ruling by Judge Andrew Fishkin addresses a bureaucratic oversight that left her without U.S. citizenship despite living in the country since infancy.

The woman, identified in court documents only as “Ms. S” to protect her privacy, was adopted by a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and his wife, who found her in an Iranian orphanage and returned with her to the United States in 1973. At that time, U.S. immigration law required parents to separately naturalize adopted children—a step that never was completed in her case. The woman only discovered her lack of citizenship when she applied for a passport at age 38.

In February, the Department of Homeland Security ordered Ms. S to appear for removal proceedings, citing a visa overstay from 1974 when she was four years old. Despite having no criminal record, the 56-year-old woman was detained briefly, subjected to fingerprinting, DNA testing, and monitored with an ankle bracelet while facing the threat of deportation to a country with which the U.S. is now at war.

The experience was described by Ms. S and her legal counsel as traumatic. She has lived her entire life in the United States, holding a Social Security card, driver’s license, and steady employment in the healthcare industry for nearly 20 years. Her attorney, Emily Howe, criticized the government’s treatment, saying it amounted to “Big Brother” tactics and wrongly classified her as a threat.

Judge Fishkin’s ruling acknowledged that relevant records from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, which was seized by militants in 1979, are unavailable and cited this as a key factor in the case. He granted asylum status and declared Ms. S a refugee, effectively providing a pathway for her eventual citizenship.

The woman’s adoptive parents, both deceased, had believed the naturalization process was complete. Her late father had served as a military officer and U.S. government contractor, enduring years as a prisoner of war during World War II. A letter found among his papers suggested legal work to finalize her immigration status had been underway in the mid-1970s.

Ms. S filed a federal lawsuit earlier this month to block deportation and compel the government to recognize her citizenship. Her case highlights a broader issue affecting thousands of international adoptees who were never formally naturalized under past laws.

The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on the individual case. Judge Fishkin’s decision is expected to provide relief not only to Ms. S but also to those similarly caught in the gap between adoption and immigration regulations.