By Cindy Chen
As the son of undocumented migrants, Saul Flores is intimately familiar with the struggles of immigrant communities, and SU students were treated to a firsthand account of these stories on Oct. 3 in Degenstein Theater.
Growing up, Flores often heard tales how his mother left Mexico to break the cycle of poverty and how his father fled El Salvador to escape the violence of the civil war. Yet, as Flores learned, not everyone empathizes with the hardships of being an immigrant. While at home with his parents, Flores watched as a news anchor said that it would have been better for a migrant woman with a baby wrapped around her shoulder to have died while trying to swim across the Rio Grande.
Contrary to Flores, his parents reacted with indifference, citing that a reaction like the news anchor was to be expected as people who have not immigrated could never understand how difficult it is. His parents’ words inspired Flores to create a project that would bridge this gap in understanding, and this eventually led to the of “The Walk of Immigrants.”
The 4 goals of Flores’s project were to:
In total, Flores walked 5,328 miles to Texas—fulfilling the fourth goal of “The Walk of Immigrants.” However, the journey was not without its hardships. On the way back to the United States, Flores encountered several life-threatening situations ranging from almost getting shot, to avoiding guerilla organizations, and being poisoned by a dart frog. These experiences reflect the risks that immigrants have to take to just build a safer, better life for themselves and their family.
“The Walk of Immigrants,” which simply started as an idea for Flores evolved into something much bigger. By sharing his journey with students at Susquehanna University—and those around the country—Flores fosters a deeper understanding of the challenges that immigrants face.
