Swati Narayan is a director at the nonprofit organization Culture of Health Advancing Together, which works with immigrant and refugee families. She also serves on the Women of Distinction Board for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation (South Texas) as well as the Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston Impower Board. Manpreet K. Singh is a supervising attorney who has tried over 50 cases. She is a chapter representative for the American Board of Trial Attorneys and serves as a director and trustee with the Sikh Coalition and ACLU-Texas. The views expressed in this commentary belong to the authors. View more opinion at CNN.

(CNN) Today, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be joined onstage at Houston's NRG Arena by President Trump for a rally that is meant to celebrate the growing ties between India, the world's largest democracy and the US, the world's most powerful one.

Swati Narayan

Manpreet Singh

More than 50,000 people -- and dozens of elected officials -- are expected to turn up at the "Howdy, Modi" rally and the fervor in the Houston Indian community is undeniable. Hundreds of organizations have put in thousands of hours in preparation for this event, which has been featured on billboards around the city.

But deep in the heart of Texas, not all of us are thrilled to see Modi and Trump in our backyard. Both leaders have stoked divisions within their respective countries, and enacted troubling policies that chip away at democracy. And as tempting as it might be to celebrate "Howdy Modi" as a moment for the Indian American community to be seen, heard and recognized as a rising political force in the US, we're worried that it comes at a cost that is far too high. We can't afford to ignore the pernicious impact that President Trump's words and policies have had on immigrants and communities of color.

As native Houstonians of South Asian descent, there is a huge sense of pride in what our community has been able to accomplish. From CEOs to engineers, astronauts, artists, and taxi drivers, we have firmly established our roots in all facets of this country. Houston has afforded us the opportunity to thrive and succeed. With success, however, comes a responsibility to give back. It also means using our voices to speak out in the face of injustice, whether it's the detention of migrant children in our own state or the lack of basic rights ethnic and religious minorities have in our ancestral country.