Aleman, at a young age was a migrant farmworker who later became an attorney that advocated for Civil Rights, Voting Rights and helped address immigration issues in the Latino community.
By H. Nelson Goodson
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.
March 25, 2025
Milwaukee, Wisconsin - On Sunday evening, March 16, 2025, Narciso L. Aleman, 78, passed away at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, according to an obituary posted by Cremation Society of Milwaukee. The obituary says, that Aleman died after a series of illnesses and complications resulting from diabetes and heart disease. Born November 25, 1946, in Edcouch, Texas, Aleman was one of nine children born to Alfredo and Teresa Aleman.
Raised as a migrant farmworker, Aleman came of age during the Chicano Movement that activated many U.S.-born Mexicans and their allies. Over the course of his life, he was involved with the social justice movement across the country, participating in the work of the Crusade for Justice in Denver, Colorado, the National La Raza Unida Party, the Texas Farmworker's Union, the Student Non-Violent Organizing Committee, United Bronx Parents, the Latin American Union for Civil Rights and Esperanza Unida, both in Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Migrant Council, and the National Council of La Raza.
Aleman was an activist and a scholar dedicated to lifelong learning. He helped form and was the President of the first Chicano college in the nation, Colegio Jacinto Trevino in Mercedes, Texas. He received a master's degree in education from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where Professor Thomas J. Porter mentored him. He went on to earn a Law Degree (1983) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Ph.D. (1994) in Educational Policy and Administration from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, with combined studies at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.
Dedicated to both law and education, Aleman was actively engaged in both disciplines throughout his adult life. In private practice he focused on issues from redistricting and voting rights, to civil rights complaints, and immigration. He and Attorney Richard "Rick" Congdon of Waukesha filed the 1984 redistricting case Vincent K. Knox, Juan Mireles, et.al v. Milwaukee County Board of Elections Commissioners, representing the plaintiffs who challenged the County's redrawn voting maps on the grounds they severely limited the opportunity for representation by African Americans and Latinos on the Milwaukee County Board. As a result of the lawsuit, the County redrew the maps.
Later he would serve Milwaukee County as an assistant district attorney and eventually established his own immigration law practice.
After becoming engaged in restorative justice theory and practice, Aleman served as a mediator for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction through Marquette University, handling special education mediations, under the direction of Professor Eva Soeka. He also served as a mediator in clergy abuse cases between the victims of priest abuse and Milwaukee Archdiocese, as part of the Marquette University Restorative Justice Program.
As an educator, Aleman worked with countless numbers of students across the country, teaching at the University of Utah-Salt Lake City, the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Arizona State University-Tempe, and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. While living in the D.C. area and working with the Arnulfo Chapa Immigration Law Office, he taught at the Montgomery County Vocational College, and the Virginia Technical College.
Aleman retired from legal practice in 2018 as the Senior Attorney for Casa Las Americas Immigration Solutions in Pharr, Texas, which he operated with assistance from Tila Luna, his immensely talented office manager.
Aleman will be greatly missed in Milwaukee including Wisconsin and Texas.
Funeral services will be private, as requested by Aleman.
