US lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday to a bill that clears away hurdles to US citizenship for 1,000 Haitian orphans whose adoptions by US parents were rushed because of a January earthquake.
The US House of Representatives passed the measure, which had already cleared the Senate, by voice vote, sending it to President Barack Obama to sign into law.
Democratic Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Mary Landrieu and Republican Senator James Inhofe crafted the bill.
The measure affects about 1,000 Haitian orphans who were in the final stages of the adoption process when the devastating quake hit, leading US and Haitian authorities to allow the children to join their adoptive American parents.
But without the complete paperwork necessary to finalize their adoptions, a roadblock was raised to what would normally have been automatic US citizenship upon entry into the United States.
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