PHOENIX -- She's only 9 years old, but Katherine Figueroa is learning a lot about county politics and immigration laws.

The Phoenix girl learned by watching the news that her dad had been arrested in an immigration raid at Lindstrom's Family Auto Wash on Saturday.

Figueroa's parents, Sandra and Carlos, both worked at the car wash about 11 years. Prosecutors charged them with using false identification.

"I never thought this would happen to my parents," said a teary-eyed Figueroa in a video on YouTube.com.

An community activist posted Figueroa's plea to President Barack Obama.

"I asked him to help me get my parents back," she said.

Katherine is 9 years old and a U.S. citizen, but her parents came here 12 years ago from Mexico City.

"They're not here to rob or kill people, they're just here to work," Katherine said.

The girl now blames the man behind the raid, Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

"I think it's not fair what they're doing, what the Sheriff is doing to my parents," she said.

But in an interview with CBS 5 News, Arpaio said Katherine is the victim in all this, and said the man who put the video on YouTube.com is just exploiting her.

"That's what this is all about -- to embarrass the sheriff and use young children," Arpaio said.

He contends Katherine's parents are in jail because they broke the law when they allegedly used fake ID cards.

"The children suffer," Arpaio said. "Once again, they're the victims. It's the parents that have caused this situation."

For now Katherine is staying with relatives and wondering when she'll see her parents again.

"On Father's day, I don't know what's gonna happen," she said. "I'm not going to have my dad at my side or neither my mom to celebrate father's day."

Katherine's parents go to court June 22 for the false identification charges.