Video - Life in the Shadows: Minnesota's illegal aliens

In a sparsely furnished apartment in Minneapolis, Veronica does her best to put authentic Mexican food on the dining-room table.

"This is Mexican bread," she said, pointing to a round loaf in the middle of the table. "Well, Mexican-style, because it was made in the United States."

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For Veronica, 37, it?s a struggle to find the food she is accustomed to eating. And more significantly, it?s a struggle to feed her four children ? especially when three of them are close to college age and talking about careers in business, medicine and law.

"When I hear these three professions ? that they're not talking about something small ? that's when I think I have to do something more," she said.

Veronica is a hard working, taxpaying single mother who, like any parent, is concerned about how she?ll pay for school, clothes and rent. What makes her different is what she went through so her kids could grow up here.

That difference puts Veronica in the middle of the national immigration debate.

"The river pulled me under a little," she said, recalling her attempts to swim across the Mexico-U.S. border. "And I didn't bring anything to protect me, a life jacket or anything."

Veronica crossed the Rio Grande, between Mexico and Laredo, Texas, where she said the river is one-third as wide as the Mississippi River, between Minneapolis and Saint Paul. But along the Rio Grande, the current was rough, and there were guards.

She didn?t make it until her fourth try.

"I said, ?This time, I'm going to make it?," she said. "And I made it."

Now that she's here, she is forced to live in the shadows because she does not have the government's permission to be here.

Her real name is not "Veronica." She and others interviewed by KARE11 News for this story agreed to participate only if KARE agreed not to reveal their identities. According to a survey by the Pew Hispanic Center, "Veronica" is one of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States, and one of the estimated 75,000 -100,000 living in Minnesota.

Veronica came to Minneapolis four years ago. She worked in a clothing store until she earned the $10,000 she needed to have her children smuggled across the border.

"Because I wasn't here with my children, all I did was work and work and work, day and night," she said.

Her husband decided to stay in Mexico. Veronica had a fourth child in the U.S., where she is convinced the future is brighter.

In Mexico, where Veronica was certified as a nurse, she said there was too much corruption for her to find work.

"If you don't have money (in Mexico), it's not possible for you to have a job. You have to pay for the job opportunities," she said.

In Minnesota, Veronica spent $200 to get a fake ID and a bogus Social Security number. The black market papers easily got her a job at store owned by a major U.S. corporation.

"And after two months, I was made a manager," she said.

That job got her a real W-2. Last year, Veronica earned almost $19,000, before taxes.

She does pay taxes. She even has been honored by the Minnesota Department of Revenue for volunteering to help other Spanish speakers pay their taxes.

But at the end of last year, it looked like the government might have begun to crack down.

Federal authorities arrested 1,297 undocumented workers in raids at Swift meatpacking plants, including one in Minnesota. Of the workers arrested, 274 were charged with identity theft for allegedly using the IDs of actual citizens to get their jobs.

Veronica left her job soon after the Swift raids. She says her Social Security number doesn't actually belong to anyone real. But her employer asked her to fill out a questionnaire issued by a company whose clients include the Department of Homeland Security.

"On Dec. 28, I received a call saying they want us to sign a document, because they're looking for criminals," she said. She worried it was a step toward deportation and refused to sign the papers.

"I have to feed my children," she said. Now, Veronica cleans houses and hopes her children won't have a story like the one you're about to read.

"My, my dad told me that they had taken my mom," Melissa, 10, told KARE11.

Melissa?s mother, who had had being living in the United States for 17 years, was deported last spring after authorities became aware of her immigration status.

Her mother returned to Mexico with Melissa's two-year-old brother.

"They don't understand that the parents, they come here to work, to give their children a better life," Melissa said through tears.

She was born in Iowa, which makes Melissa an American citizen.

"I?m from the United States," she said. "I know my rights to have my mother with me. It's not fair that they take her away from me."

Melissa's father works in restaurants and said he sometimes works 16-hour days.

"Yes, it's true, we don't have papers and all that. But we're not hurting anyone, either. We only came here to work," her father said.

In the Unites States, there are plenty of people who might sympathize with the immigrants? stories, but they?ll often ask, "Why don't these immigrants just follow the rules?"

KARE11 learned, through interviews with the U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security, that "following the rules" is almost impossible if someone just wants to move here to look for a better life. The state department only grants immigrant visas to people who are sponsored by a U.S. employer, a spouse, or a close relative who is a citizen.

The only other authorized way to immigrate to the United States is to win the "green card lottery." But that lottery is closed to Mexicans, and to people born in Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Pakistan, Philippines, Peru, Poland, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and Vietnam -- because these nationalities already are well represented in the U.S.

What's more, the 55,000 lottery winners only win the opportunity to apply for a visa. That said, the United States does accept more authorized immigrants every year than any other country.

"We have a very generous immigration system," said Tim Counts, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Counts said U.S. policies have to be enforced so the system maintains its integrity.

"When we find evidence that there has been illegal activity, whether it's someone working as a U.S. citizen, whether it's an illegal alien gang member, whether it's an employer who is knowingly hiring illegal aliens, we conduct an investigation. If we have the evidence, we prosecute. It's that simple,? he said.

Counts said priority is given to cases involving national security. But as the political debate swirls around people like "Veronica," she has taken it upon herself to talk to lawmakers in Saint Paul for help with health care and education.

She compares her battle to historic struggles for civil rights.

"If African-Americans would have stayed hidden, the laws would not have changed," she said. "Somebody has to do it."

For "Veronica", it is a battle to move out of the shadows and live a new version of the American dream.

"We have hope that, in this country, things will change," she said.

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