The Rebecca Trimble Story

Tim Rockey, Alaska's News Source, Dec. 29, 2022

"A U.S. Army officer’s wife who previously lived in Bethel has finally been granted a status adjustment to allow for her lawful permanent residency in the United States after an eight-year-long battle working toward American citizenship. Rebecca Trimble moved to the U.S. from Mexico when she was just days old to live with her adoptive parents in 1989. She believed that she was an American citizen — and had a birth certificate and social security card — until applying for an enhanced driver’s license in 2012 when she was told that her adoption had not been completed properly. “Finding out that it wasn’t done correctly was very overwhelming and surprised and shocked and scared at that point to be like, oh my gosh, you know, what now? What does this mean?” Rebecca Trimble said. ... Veteran litigator Margaret Stock, of Cascadia Cross-Border Law, began representing Trimble in 2019 after the numerous attempts by the Trimbles to remedy her immigration status had failed. John Trimble said that after reaching out to multiple immigration attorneys in Washington, D.C., and in Oregon, they were continually referred to Stock. ... Rep. Don Young introduced House Resolution 681 on Feb. 21, 2021. The bill passed the House, but Young then died in 2022. Later, the bill was picked up and championed by Sen. Lisa Murkowski alongside Sen. Dan Sullivan in order to pass by the end of this Congressional session and prevent the bill from dying. ... The passage of private bills through Congress is extremely infrequent. None of the 117 private bills introduced during the 109th Congress — nor any of the 21 private bills introduced in the 110th Congress — were passed. Trimble’s bill now becomes the last piece of legislation ever sponsored by Young to have passed. President Joe Biden received HR 681 on his desk on Dec. 23 and signed the private legislation on Dec. 27, “which makes Rebecca Trimble eligible for adjustment of status to that of a lawful permanent resident.”