Gloria Sanchez keeps a close eye on the large living room window with a wide view of the front yard of her Modesto home. Fear is what motivates her constant vigilance.

She says she’s afraid officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will show up one day, detain her and start deportation proceedings to eventually return her to Mexico, tearing her apart from her six children, her husband and the life she’s had in Modesto the past 26 years.

But it’s the kind of fear she won’t allow to debilitate her. She says it keeps her sharp; it empowers her to learn about her rights as an undocumented immigrant and to fight to protect her family.