Maya was not an automatic American citizen.
But she was 99% there at birth due to having an American mother and merely had to file for naturalization at age 18 and no one gets turned down for this
If Maya had been born on US soil she would have been a US citizen at birth just like offspring of illegal aliens are (UNFORTUNATELY)
A common misconception, that US citizenship of one parent is in and of itself sufficient to convey citizenship to offspring. Young women who have married foreign nationals and moved to the husband's county have found out the hard way that there are further requirements.
There are more than a few children trapped in ME countries, as well as some European ones (notably Germany). State won't lift a finger to help the mothers gain custody of their kids because the kids are not US citizens.
I meant to mention - if Maya’s mom met the residency requirements, it would not result in ‘naturalization’, but the conveyance of birthright citizenship.
One doesn’t have to wait until age 18 to perfect US citizenship in the situation we’re discussing, but sometimes the other country requires that the person be 18 to renounce citizenship (if required) of that country.
If Maya was American at birth (through her mother) then she was an American citizen. It seems you misunderstand the concept of “naturalization”. Naturalization is the process by which a non-citizen becomes a citizen. Now if she had a claim to citizenship at birth, but did not assert that claim until she was older - that is someting entirely different.