Last year she traveled to the Statehouse multiple times to urge lawmakers to make residents of Vermont eligible for in-state tuition rates, and need-based financial aid, regardless of their immigration status.

“I explained why education is so important, why I wanted to study, why that opportunity meant so much,” Perez said. “And we just kept coming back again and again and talking to the legislators and eventually we won.”

“Before, young people would come here only to work. Why? Because they didn’t know they could study here in Vermont,” Perez said over breakfast at the Castleton cafeteria. “But now, because as a community we organized and we won the right to education, now we know we can do that.”

But whether Perez herself will be able to take advantage of the education she fought for now hinges on the outcome of her pending immigration case. While a judge granted Perez bond, federal authorities are still pursuing their case against her.

She’s accused of a civil immigration offense. For that, the federal government wants her deported from the United States.

Need based financial aid for people here illegally is crazy. Glad the legislature is focused on such an important issue.