Border War

Illegal immigrants are creating huge problems in America. At least, that is the stance that the makers of Border War seem to be stressing. They follow the lives of several people whose lives have been directly affected by immigration policy. They include a senator, a Latina member of the Minutemen, a border patrol officer, and the wife of a deceased border patrol. It is interesting to see the different perspectives from the different backgrounds that the movie brings together. However, I feel that the overall message is very biased against illegal immigrants. Funnily enough, the only humane message I can recall from the documentary is from the border patrol officer. He says how he will work hard to bust the smuggler's themselves, but that he understands that the immigrants are looking for a better life and are people too. The rest of the testimonies are blatantly against the idea of an open border and illegal immigrants. The senator involved has been very influential in trying to create obstacles such as the wall on the border of Mexico to keep people out. He passionately defends his position advocating enforcement first. He simply wants to keep America for Americans. The Latina member of the Minutemen involves herself because of her own personal experience with immigration. Her father, a Mexican, operated a safe house for immigrants looking for shelter on their way to their final destination. It tore her family apart, her mother being unable to deal with the added stress that comes from being involved with the man operating the 2nd most frequently visited safe house in California. She is widely met with anger amongst the Latino community because she advocates groups like the Minutemen who work to prevent illegal immigrants from coming to America, when oftentimes they do so out of necessity or so they can provide more easily for their family. The final testimony comes from the widow of a border patrol officer. Her husband was killed in a routine traffic stop by an illegal immigrant who had been deported several times and was a known drug dealer, as well as being wanted on several counts of attempted murder. This testimony was the most unsettling, because there was no attempt at creating an unbiased view on immigrants. The entire lack of testimony to create a positive light on illegal immigrants implied that many immigrants are going to become contributors to social problems like drugs, and social unrest. There was very little material that attempted to create an unbiased view on the situation of Hispanic immigration, and I think that the documentary needs to create a broader view in order to be more effective.