I have spent most of the past two decades worrying that my undocumented parents will get picked up by police and deported to Mexico — a country we left 25 years ago when I was 9.

Some years have been worse than others, especially during former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s mass roundups and under the previous presidential administration.

During those times, my younger brother and sister and I adhered to a strict system: We’d ask our parents to call us as soon as they left work. We’d monitor their schedules. We knew if they planned to stop at the grocery store or at my uncle’s house.

If they ever were pulled over by police, they had clear instructions to call one of us immediately and put us on speaker phone so we could talk to the officer.

During these stretches, I lived with a constant knot inside my stomach. Something as small as my mom not answering the phone was enough to fill us with panic.

It’s been a huge relief in recent years to put some of those worries aside and simply focus........

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