SFA Frat Fights Deportation of Undocumented Brother Mario Perez : Houston Indymedia

Mario's life was heading in the right direction until a traffic stop put his life on hold. Mario's nightmare started with sending a mass text message in his cell phone saying "Hey Bruhs, I just got pulled over," after not doing a complete stop at a stop sign near campus. It turns out that Mario had a couple of unpaid traffic tickets that had turned into outstanding warrants which got him arrested for the first time in his life, then turned into ICE who locked him up in a detention center in Houston.

Stories like Mario's keep happening every day, ruining the lives of students who through no fault of their own find themselves being deported to countries they don't know or remember. However, this time ICE pulled an undocumented student from a bee's nest, as Mario is a brother at of Alpha Phi Alpha, the nation's oldest black Greek-letter fraternity with over 185,000 members and 680 active chapters worldwide. His local chapter already knew about Mario's unfortunate immigration situation and did not think twice in helping their brother Mario when he sent them a text.

The brothers in the local lota Mu chapter at SFA used their alumni network to connect with a chapter in Houston who paid Mario's $1,500 bail. They also convinced Jacob Monty, an immigration attorney in Houston, to take Mario's case pro-bono after a dozen African Americans showed up at his office to demonstrate support for their Hispanic brother.

Mario is now awaiting a deportation hearing on March. Even though Mario is not be a U.S. citizen, he only understands the American way of life. A deportation would be devastating for his education and his family, who have worked hard to be able to pay $40,000 in Mario's higher education to give him an opportunity to accomplish the American Dream.

President Barack Obama, who supports the Dream Act, is calling young people to act with a sense of urgency to study and work, and this is exactly what Mario Perez is doing. People like Mario are an asset to the United States and we need him.

It is legally up to a judge to decide Mario's future, but in reality it is also up to the people to stand with Alpha Phi Alpha to keep their undocumented brother home. Change is possible and you can help with a couple clicks. Sign and share Mario's petition today to raise your voice to keep him where he belongs.

http://news.change.org/stories/frat-fights-deportation-of-undocumented-brother-mario-perez