On a January morning, Erika Andiola looked out the window to find police officers outside of her house. After entering the house, they arrested her brother and mother and deported them to their home country of Mexico.

After a brief moment of shock, Andiola chose to take action.

“I never felt so angry and so sad at the same time,” Andiola said.

Andiola — an activist for undocumented immigrants in Arizona — spoke to about 40 students Thursday detailing her personal story of fighting for immigration rights in an event hosted by the Coalition for Tuition Equality, a group of 31 organizations on campus fighting to attain in-state tuition for undocumented Michigan residents.

As a student at Arizona State University, Andiola paid out-of-state tuition and received no loans or financial aid as an undocumented student. However, after being selected as a Dream Scholar — a $4,000 scholarship — and receiving private funding for her education, Andiola connected with other undocumented students on ASU’s campus and joined the fight for immigration reform.

Since then, Andiola has advocated for the DREAM Act — a law enacted in 12 states that allows public institutions to grant aid to undocumented students — and has lobbied for immigration reform in Washington D.C.

Because of Andiola’s work in reform, her family and other undocumented immigrants returned to the United States.

Andiola added that it’s important for University students to fight for the cause and do whatever they can to compel the University to pursue in-state tuition equality for undocumented students.

Before Andiola spoke, LSA senior Resilda Karafili shared her experience as an undocumented student at the University. Having lived in the United States since she was young, Karafili considers it her home and remains scared that she will be deported one day.

“There are millions like me; this is my country,” Karafili said. “Despite all of the contributions I’ve made to this country, I don’t have a green card or passport to prove it.”

Public Policy senior Kevin Mersol-Barg, founder of CTE and a former Daily columnist, said the event served to inspire students to fight for the cause since the University’s Board of Regents received CTE’s report weighing the pros and cons of tuition equality last month.

CTE will make an appearance at the University’s Board of Regents meeting next week with hopes of hearing the regents’ thoughts on the report.

LSA junior John D’Adamo, a spokesman for CTE, said in an interview after the event that Andiola and Karafili’s speeches inspired students to get involved in the issue.

“It’s really a movement that’s going all throughout the country and that really translates to the University’s Coalition for Tuition Equality,” D’Adamo said. “We are really excited for next week to show the administration that we’re here, have been moved by these stories and we’ll be doing our best to create tuition equality throughout the campus.”

D’Adamo said CTE hopes the regents will discuss the report at the meeting due to Regent Mark Bernstein’s (D–Ann Arbor) comment last month that said the regents should treat the issue with “urgency.”

“We’re really encouraged to hopefully see some action happen.”