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theweaselkingUniversity student lives in Utah her whole life. Travels to Mexico for a vacation, tries to come back across the border, and is arrested as an illegal alien.
She was also informed that, in addition to being an illegal alien, she's also 18, not 20, and will be deported to a country she has never been to and where she does not speak the language unless the laws change.
"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.
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.
At USU, she landed a job as a resident assistant in Valley View towers. In October, she attended a conference in New Mexico for resident assistants and she and the other USU student made a quick trip across the border to Mexico.
When they returned and were questioned by U.S. border agents, she said she was a German citizen. The border officials could not find her listed in a database of permanent foreign residents. She was taken into custody and was told she was in the United States illegally.
"They said, 'Right now we are waiting for your passport to come to deport you. You don't belong here and you have no right to be here,'" Martinez recalled.
Martinez said she tried to call her parents and they hung up on her.
She then contacted a sister and an uncle, who told her the immigration officials were right.
She was also informed that, in addition to being an illegal alien, she's also 18, not 20, and will be deported to a country she has never been to and where she does not speak the language unless the laws change.
"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.
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.
At USU, she landed a job as a resident assistant in Valley View towers. In October, she attended a conference in New Mexico for resident assistants and she and the other USU student made a quick trip across the border to Mexico.
When they returned and were questioned by U.S. border agents, she said she was a German citizen. The border officials could not find her listed in a database of permanent foreign residents. She was taken into custody and was told she was in the United States illegally.
"They said, 'Right now we are waiting for your passport to come to deport you. You don't belong here and you have no right to be here,'" Martinez recalled.
Martinez said she tried to call her parents and they hung up on her.
She then contacted a sister and an uncle, who told her the immigration officials were right.