USU student suddenly discovers she is not a legal resident
`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.
But since being detained by border officials, she has learned she is 18 and an illegal resident. [..]
“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. [..]
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.’
