Marisol L. Pérez
Associate Attorney
Marisol L. Pérez is a native of San Angelo, Texas. She received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from the University of Texas-San Antonio and her law degree from St. Mary’s School of Law, where she received the Richard Green Spirit of Social Justice Award in recognition of her clinical work on behalf of low-income people in San Antonio and South Texas.
Subsequent to law school, Marisol came to DMCA to help our clients with removal defense, Violence Against Women’s Act cases, and family immigration matters. After more than 3 years at DMCA, she left to join the Southwest Regional Office of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) as a staff attorney litigating and carrying out policy work in the area of immigration civil rights.
While at MALDEF, she served as co-counsel in Santillan v. Ridge, a successful nationwide class action lawsuit on behalf of thousands of lawful permanent residents who were improperly denied proof of their legal status by the U.S. government. Marisol also represented plaintiffs in the lawsuit Vicente v. Barnett, an action on behalf of 16 individuals to recover damages for injuries inflicted upon them by vigilante ranchers along the Arizona-Mexico Border. In February 2009, a civil jury found in favor of the women plaintiffs and awarded damages on their claims of assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Marisol also took part in a series of lawsuits brought to challenge actions of the City of Farmers Branch, the first Texas town to adopt an anti-immigrant law. The first of these cases, Vasquez v. City of Farmers Branch won on summary judgment and the second lawsuit remains pending in the Northern District of Texas.
In 2010, Marisol returned to DMCA where she handles a wide range of immigration matters. Marisol is active with several law associations and non-profit groups and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the Western District of Texas, the Southern District of Texas, and Northern District of Texas
