officials caught up with her last year on her birthday . Watch how deportation separates family '' `` I was there when they handcuffed her , '' Quiroz says . `` I was there when they took her down . '' Two of her brothers , who had come with their mother to the United States when they were young children , also were taken into custody . It was the start of a downward spiral for Quiroz . When her mother and brothers were deported , Quiroz and her 6-year-old , American-born sister had no choice but to return to Mexico City with them . Her seventh-grade year was spent in a classroom where she did n't understand the language . `` I never belonged there , '' she says . `` I 'd just come home , sit down , cry . I 'd say , ` Mom , I ca n't do it . ' ... I ca n't read or write Spanish . '' She adds , `` I felt like there were no dreams for me . '' Stories like these are becoming more common , immigration analysts say , with American children caught in
WAXAHATCHIE , Texas -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Julie Quiroz clutches her teddy bear crying . `` Mommy , '' she says softly , as her mother wraps her arms around her and rubs her back . One of her brothers tries to console her . `` You 're going to come back , '' he says . Julie Quiroz , a 13-year-old U.S. citizen , went back to Mexico when her mom was deported . The 13-year-old Quiroz begins to walk away to catch an airplane from Mexico to the United States . Within moments , she rushes back to her mother 's arms . `` Mommy , '' she says again , tears streaming down her face . Quiroz is one of an estimated 3 million American children who have at least one parent who entered the United States illegally , according to the Urban Institute , which researches and evaluates U.S. social and economic issues . In Quiroz 's case , she was born in Washington state , lived there her entire life and went to school there . But her mother , Ana Reyes , entered the United States illegally before Quiroz was born and U.S. immigration