Rossana Pérez was arrested by a death squad and imprisoned in her native El Salvador for months before arriving as a refugee to Los Angeles more than 40 years ago. Now, the Los Angeles professor, writer and activist supports others who, like her, have overcome unthinkable trauma in their home countries to continue their lives in the United States.
But for Pérez, as painful as the ongoing immigration raids in Los Angeles have been, Latinos and other immigrant communities need only look to history to find hope, examples and guidance for how to survive this tumultuous time.
