Last Friday, August 25, President Donald Trump pardoned Joe Arpaio, former sheriff of Maricopa County in Arizona, best known for his racial profiling practices against Latinos.

According to an official transcript from the Justice Department, Arpaio was convicted for unlawful discriminatory police conduct, which included detaining and arresting Latinos without an imminent reason, stopping drivers and passengers just to check their immigration status, making inmates wear pink underwear, among other several other reasons.

Yet, President Trump decided to pardon him.

“I am pleased to inform you that I have just granted a full pardon to 85 year old American patriot Sheriff Joe Arpaio. He kept Arizona safe!” Trump wrote on his Twitter account.

The funny thing is, that during the time period when Arpaio was arresting Latinos and enforcing immigration laws, the amount of violent crimes, especially homicides, increased in Maricopa County, according to the Justice Department. This is confusing- aren’t Latinos supposed to be the criminals?

To see that our president’s idea of keeping a state safe is to discriminate against a community so important to the functioning of this country as the Latino community can be very discouraging and difficult to assimilate. However, am I surprised? No. Am I upset? Not really, at least not anymore.

As a Mexican, Trump’s comments and actions directed at Latinos used to hurt me a lot. I remember I cried the night of November 8 of last year as soon as they announced the results of the election. I felt so much anger and powerlessness that words cannot explain. I even considered going back to Mexico since I didn’t feel welcome in this country anymore. I just couldn’t come up with good reasons to stay here other than finishing my major and pursuing my career as a journalist. That is when I decided no one was going to make me quit my dream, not even the president.

It is easy to feel disappointed at comments about my community such as “They’re rapists,” “They’re taking our jobs” and “They’re going to pay for the wall.” However, I decided to take another path, a path to success, to pursuing the American dream and to working hard against prejudice.

Now more than ever, us Latinos need to show the world why we came to this country in the first place. We are better than falling for racist comments and provocations. No matter what other people can say, we are hardworking and civilian people who just want to be someone in this world.

With this being said, I am making an open invitation to everyone who is reading this, to fight for equality and justice. Diversity is what makes this country great and neither people like Arpaio nor the president can take that away from it. Latinos are here to stay.