BY GABRIELA PARRA, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY, LAYDE & PARRA
As the first-generation daughter of Mexican immigrants, I grew up believing in the promise of American democracy. I understood early that being born on U.S. soil gave me privileges my parents never had. I believed this country, despite its painful history, was capable of growth. I believed in a democracy that fought to expand rights through struggle: from the Civil Rights Movement, to voting protections, to ensuring immigrant children could access education, to limiting racial profiling by law enforcement. Those victories made me proud to be American.
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But as a Mexican American immigration attorney standing on the front lines of this moment in history, I now understand how fragile democracy truly is.
For the first time in my life, I fear this country.
I fear it every time I leave my home. Every time I speak publicly. Every time I stand beside my immigrant clients, many of whom now live in terror simply for existing. Since 2025, I have watched constitutional protections erode in real time for immigrants and communities of color while those in power test the limits of authority with little regard for human dignity.
Then came the deaths of Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota. Their deaths ignited national outrage and mass protests that finally forced the government to pause some of its aggressive and inhumane actions. But what haunted me most was this truth: Communities of color had already been sounding the alarm for years. People had already been harmed, targeted and dehumanized long before the nation paid attention.
And still, democracy revealed itself.
Not in politicians. Not in institutions alone. But in people. In protest. In collective resistance. In judges willing to uphold the Constitution when others would not.
Democracy, to me, is not blind patriotism. It is the constant fight to ensure that human rights apply to everyone – not just the powerful, not just citizens, and not just when it is politically convenient. Democracy survives only when people are willing to defend the humanity of others as fiercely as their own.
