My God, Immigration Nation has to be one of the toughest documentaries I have ever watched…
If you’ve followed world news for the last couple of years, you are probably aware of US’ stance on immigration under the Trump administration. This documentary follows the daily life of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officials and some of the illegal immigrants that have come in touch with the, in my opinion, nefarious agency in the last couple of years.
This is one of those shows that is un-bingeable. Not because it’s not good. To the contrary, it’s excellent. But it’s so emotionally draining that I’m sure that watching more than two episodes in a row would definitely take a toll on your mental health. And if just watching it is so hard, imaging living it first-hand…
Immigration Nation depicts the horrors, abuses and disdain illegal immigrants are subject to, and the complete disregard and lack of empathy for other human lives some of ICE’s officers seem to have, as well as the people in charge of creating these policies.
These adjectives may seem harsh and you may be tempted to say “but Nacho, these are illegal immigrants! They’ve broken the law, they have to live with the consequences of their actions!”. You may think that these awful practices wouldn’t be necessary if they had followed the legal/right way. But you’ll soon realize that these people are playing a rigged game.
I’m not going to go into much detail about the political and economical involvement the US may have had in making some countries so unstable for people that they have to make the decision of leaving for greener pastures, but you’ll see how the supposedly “right way” works, and why it’s almost impossible and borderline inhumane. And even if that wasn’t an issue, and the proper channels worked as they should, we don’t have to forget that we are talking about human lives. These are people! No one should be separated for months from their 2 year old children. No one should be separated from their family for 5 years for a “background check”. No one should be sent back to a country where there are people waiting to kill them. No one should be treated as “collateral damage”. No country should knowingly implement policies that would increase deaths as a deterrent. But that is exactly what you are going to see. And more…
What makes it even worse is that there are people that try to brush these things aside by saying things like “I’m just doing my job” or “I don’t create the rules, I just enforce them”. That just makes my blood boil.
Anyways… Why on Earth would I recommend this docuseries after all of the horrible things I’ve said? Because I think checking one’s privileges at least once in a while is important, and seeing the injustices some people have to endure may inspire you to fight for a change. And this fucked up world sure can use more people that are willing to fight to un-fuck it.
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