Dozens of civic groups in the U.S. gathered on Capitol Hill to launch a body to push for the passage of a pending bill that would automatically grant U.S. citizenship to international adoptees, regardless of their age.

The Korean American Grassroots Conference, Adoptee Rights Campaign and Holt International launched the National Alliance for Adoptee Equality on Wednesday, vowing to address citizenship disparity among 49-thousand international adoptees in the U.S.

Some 20-thousand adoptees of Korean descent are estimated to be stateless and live in fear of deportation.

While the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 allowed automatic citizenship for adoptees under the age of 18, it left tens of thousands of adult adoptees without legal status.

In May, bipartisan teams of four representatives in both the U.S. House and Senate introduced the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2019, which would automatically grant international adoptees citizenship, regardless of their age.

The alliance hopes to see the bill pass the House by April of next year.