CHICAGO — After serving two tours in Afghanistan and seven years in state prison on a drug conviction, Chicagoan Miguel Perez Jr. is facing deportation from the country he served and the only hometown he's ever known.
Perez, 38, was in federal court Thursday in a case activists have called cruel and unfair. He is one of about 3,000 undocumented immigrants who served in the U.S. military known as "green card soldiers" that still face deportation, activists said.
His case has gotten renewed attention as President-elect Donald Trump calls for the immediate deportation of as many as 3 million undocumented immigrants. Trump said he will first deport criminals — something the Obama administration has done in deporting a record 2.5 million people while in office.
Though Perez has a felony conviction for drug delivery, he is not a violent offender and only turned to drugs, like many veterans, to deal with issues of post traumatic stress, his supporters said.
Perez came to Chicago with his Mexican parents as a child, according to supports. He enlisted in the U.S. Army after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and served two tours in Afghanistan with a special forces unit, supporters said.
He came back to Chicago with a brain injury and was diagnosed with severe post traumatic stress disorder, said the group Centro sin Fronteras.
To deal with his diagnosis, Perez began using drugs and became addicted "as a way to self medicate," the group said.
In February 2010, Perez was convicted of delivery of more than two pounds of cocaine and was sentenced to 15 years in state prison, according to a statement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
Perez's sentence was up in September after he served 7 years, activists said. But ICE placed Perez in the deportation process in 2012, the agency said. He was turned over to ICE custody on Sept. 23.
For family and supporters of Perez, the deportation case is cruel for a man who served his country and turned to narcotics to treat his combat-related injuries.
"Miguel has only known the U.S. to be his home and he fears what may happen if he is deported to Mexico," Pueblo sin Fronteras said in a statement.
The group, as well as fellow undocumented military veterans and his parents, rallied outside Perez's court hear Thursday.
"We are here with Miguel today because we all served our country with honor and we never leave a man behind," said Cesar Lopez, a Marine Crops. veteran who was deported but has since returned to the U.S.
Perez's mother, Esperanza Perez, said she is asking the federal judge to help her son rather than deport him.
"It's not fair that my son faces deportation after serving this country," she said in a statement.
A federal immigration judge continued Perez's case Thursday, according to the supporters. Although the judge did not dismiss the case, she did allow Perez to apply for asylum and appeared to be "sympathetic" to his case, supporters said.
"The case continues and so does the struggle to get Miguel released and with his family in the country he served to defend," Pueblo Sin Fronteras said.
A spokesman for ICE the agency is legally required to begin deportation processes for those convicted of aggravated felonies.
"ICE respects the service and sacrifice of those in military service, and is very deliberate in its review of cases involving U.S. military veterans. Any action taken by ICE that may result in the removal of an alien with military service must be authorized by the senior leadership in a field office, following an evaluation by local counsel. ICE exercised prosecutorial discretion, when appropriate, on a case-by-case basis for members of the armed forces who have honorably served our country. ICE specifically identifies service in the U.S. military as a positive factor that should be considered when deciding whether or not prosecutorial discretion should be exercised. Still, applicable law requires ICE to mandatorily detain and process for removal individuals who have been convicted of aggravated felonies as defined under the Immigration and Nationality Act."
A petition seeking a pardon for Perez has 154 signatures and can be viewed here.
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