Madison Flores’ honest, raw piece, “I Love My Immigrant Parents” does an excellent job capturing the struggles immigrants face. She recalls that her “dad and uncle were separated from their mom for 12 years” so they got get their Visas. Flores talks about how she cannot imagine being seperated from her family for so long. She recalls that the pain in her heart “is overwhelming just thinking about a family being seperated for such a long time.”

As the daughter of immigrant parents, I know the struggles immigrants face. When my mom immigrated to the United States at age 12, she spoke no English, just like my aunt, uncle, and grandparents. They struggled with finances and learning the language and, soon, my mother began to work alongside her brothers and sisters in her early teenage years to attempt to lift her family out of poverty. Flores speaks about her family being seperated which I can also relate to. My father came to the United States when he was 25. He was the first out of his entire family to leave Lima, Peru. He became roommates with a family friend and recalls that they both became very homesick and missed their family terribly. Of course, they were not separated from them for twelve whole years but they still missed them a lot.

Being an immigrant is incredibly difficult. If you don’t know the language, like my mother when she first arrived, or if you’re the first out of your family to immigrate, like my father, or if you’re separated from your family for years, like Flores’ family; it is a struggle. Nowadays, with our new president, these poor immigrants who are trying to earn a living are being deported back to their (usually) war-ridden, poverty-striken country. We congratulate the immigrants who came young and got through so many struggles and found their way to the American Dream and hope the new ones can too.