By Matt for the TIB Network:
Here is an interesting story:Until she returned from a brief visit to Mexico, Utah State University student Heilit Martinez thought she was a 20-year-old legal resident of the United States.The way this story is written, you'd think every parent lied to their children about such important things as your citizenship... Do I think this woman should get some help? Yes. Do I think this makes her different from any other person seeking citizenship? Not really. And her parents should be taken in immediately and deported without the possibility of returning legally.
But since being detained by border officials, she has learned she is 18 and an illegal resident.
She faces possible deportation unless a bill by Sen. Orrin Hatch passes.
"When I was in junior high, I felt the way most Americans do about the Mexicans crossing the border," said Martinez. "I felt all the illegal aliens should be deported. My parents would laugh when I said that."
Martinez said she had known one of her parents was a Venezuelan and the other was a German citizen. She understood that she also was a German citizen, but she had never lived in that country and her family moved to the United States from Venezuela when she was 2.
She grew up in West Valley City.
"Up until I was 12, I thought I was an American," she said. When she found out she wasn't a U.S. citizen, her parents told her she was a legal resident.
"I look like everyone else. I have no accent when I speak English. I know as much U.S. history as the average Joe, if not more. I've been singing the national anthem since my lungs let me and I knew the words," Martinez said. "I've just always felt it American."
She had a Social Security card from her father. When she asked about her alien resident card, he told her it was lost, she said.
This is serious business people. Serious.
