(CNN) Natalia Pérez woke up on November 9 and logged onto her computer and clicked on a link for "Application for Certificate of Citizenship"

Her gut tied itself in knots, as she wondered about the next four years with President-elect Donald Trump: How will people view me? What will change legally for me? How will life change for my half-Mexican, half-Jewish child?

Pérez realized her post-election day fears might not be reasonable, especially given her years-long status as a legal US resident. Pérez came to the US in 2002 as a student, earned her PhD from Princeton University, and teaches Renaissance literature at the University of Southern California as an assistant professor. Married to an American, Pérez never worried about what she once considered the marginal difference between being a legal US resident versus a US citizen.

But Trump's election has changed the way she thinks about things.

"I've been so nervous and frightened since," Pérez told CNN in a recent interview. Filling out her citizenship application, she adds, "This is my insurance policy. I need to do something to change my legal status, to make sure, that not just me, but my family, is protected."

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