Cross Students Hit The Road For Mario

Wilbur Cross High School students headed up the stairs to the Track 14 platform at Union Station Tuesday afternoon to embark on a field trip of sorts — to seek justice.

Members of school organizations such as Cross in Action, they headed to the state courthouse in Milford to stage a demonstration calling for the release of one of their fellow students, Mario Aguilar. Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested Aguilar outside the courthouse three months earlier. Aguilar, 18, had shown up at the courthouse to face state charges related to a traffic accident; he is now in federal custody awaiting possible deportation to Guatemala, a country whose gangs he fled out of fear for his life. A decision is expected by Thursday on his request for asylum. (Read previous stories about his case here and here.)

Kris Mendoza (pictured), who taught Aguilar in algebra the previous year, joined the students on the ride. She talked about the promise he showed in the classroom. Mendoza estimated that ​“roughly one half of my students are undocumented.”

The group arrived outside the Milford courthouse and spent nearly two hours in the cold, wet late afternoon making speeches, holding up signs, and chanting. The rally drew 35 people in total.

“Tell me what community looks like!” Tayshalee Hernandez asked the crowd.

“This is what community looks like!” came the emphatic response.

The protesters were students, activists, teachers and others.

“I’m here because I want justice for Mario, I want him to come home, and I want him to come back to our community,” said Hernandez, a Cross junior like Aguilar.

She was joined by students like a senior who missed most of his AP Statistics class to attend the rally — and who declined to have his name published: He said he too is an undocumented immigrant, along with several family members.

“I can relate,” he said. ​“When Mario was going through that, I had a court case too over a driving incident. This could’ve happened to me, and it could’ve happened to anyone.”

“The guy was on his way to settle something with the law. It’s pretty unfair that he got picked up while obeying the law. A courthouse should be a neutral zone: no one should fear going to get justice,” the senior argued.

The rally was led in large part by Anthony Barroso (second from left in photo), a Gateway graduate who described himself as ​“undocumented and unafraid.” Barroso is an organizer with CT Students for a Dream, a group with which most of the Cross student present are affiliated.

While the rally was centered around ​“libertad para Mario” (freedom for Mario), the protesters made clear they had broader goals as well. Signs carried messages like ​“Abolish ICE” and drawings of boxes labeled ICE, DHS (Department of Homeland Security), and CBP (Customs and Border Patrol) headed for a trash can. ​“Free them all,” the crowd chanted in reference to the roughly 50,000 undocumented immigrants currently in detention across the country.

Regardless of the judge’s ruling on Aguilar’s asylum request, the protesters vowed to keep fighting.“We will not stop until all of them are free,” they shouted. ​“No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state!”