Adoptee faces deportation

PORTLAND, Ore., Aug. 3 (UPI) -- A teen adopted by an Oregon family as a child says she is "petrified" she may be deported because her birth parents brought her to the United States illegally.

Blanca Catt, who was born in Mexico, only learned she was not a U.S. citizen when she tried to get a learner's permit at 16, The Portland Oregonian reports. Now 19, she can't drive or look for work.

"I'm petrified," she told the newspaper during an interview with her mother Monday. "I don't know what's going to happen."

Catt has lived in the United States since she was a toddler and does not speak Spanish. She became a ward of the state Department of Human Services because of child abuse and was placed as a foster child with the couple who later adopted her.

The family said caseworkers told them adoption automatically made Blanca a U.S. citizen, and they only learned years later they had been misinformed. They sued DHS, but a judge ruled last week they waited too long to file.

If Blanca is deported, she would be penalized for being in the country illegally. She would be unable to apply for legal entry for 10 years.

"I can't go back," she said. "I wouldn't survive."