Walking To Be Heard: Four Immigrants Tell Their Stories

Four young adults from Florida passed through Columbus Monday on their way to an immigration rights rally in Washington D.C. But the group didn't cruise through town. They walked.

It's Day 52 of the 1,500-mile "Trail of Dreams," a trek these 20-somethings started Jan. 1. They plan to arrive at the capitol around May 1. In between times, they take a circuitous route, telling their stories to whomever will listen.

Their names: Carlos. Juan. Gaby. Felipe. They walk because they're not alone.

"There’s so many students in our shoes, so many people, an estimated over 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country," Carlos, 22, said. He has spent the past 20 years undocumented in this country. He said his grandfather was an American citizen.

"We want a pathway to legalization. We want a pathway to citizenship," Carlos added.

All but Juan remain undocumented immigrants. But Juan only recently gained legal status.

"But I feel like I was only lucky, you know," Juan said. "I had a stepmother who was a U.S. citizen who went out of her way to sponsor me, and that’s not a privilege that everybody has."

The rest of them still face daily challenges, like getting driver's licenses, finding work, traveling and voting.

"And to top it off, even when I’m in my house I’m afraid that at four in the morning, immigration will knock and take me from my community," Felipe said.

Felipe was sent to the U.S. from Brazil at age 14. He explained that he had a hard time getting into college, at one point getting accepted, yet ultimately rejected by Duke University because he didn't have a Social Security Number.

But the crew is risking it all. Detention. Deportation. All out in the open air.

"If I don’t fight for my rights no one else will," Felipe said.

But their "fight" is non-violent. Simply, they walk and tell their stories. People listen and even travel to walk with them, as a Goshen College group did Monday morning. The student decided to forego Spring Break to trek for a while by their side.

"I feel like we’re like the freedom riders now," one student said. "They walked for their issue and now we’re going to be walking for ours."

Felipe likened the experience to a love letter: "We love this place, we love our families. We love our communities."

But the terrain can be tough. One of the four "dreamwalkers," Gaby, had to stay behind for the morning to air out their flooded and molding RV. A driver usually takes the RV to their destination each day, in case they can't find shelter.

Gaby says her family was taken almost four years in a raid.

"When I think about what’s going to happen when we all go to heaven, I think about the beauty of seeing all different races and all different kinds of people," she said.

But here and now, what keeps them walking through the rain, the mold and the cold?

"I think the greatest motivation I have is the history books," Felipe said. "That once upon a time the laws in this country said it was OK to have slaves. It was OK to put people in the back of the bus. But the laws changed.

And to them, they're part of a living--and walking--history.