This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
Undocumented | |
---|---|
Directed by | Chris Peckover |
Written by | Joe Peterson Chris Peckover |
Produced by | Jessica Wu Keith Calder Josh Finn |
Starring | Scott Mechlowicz Alona Tal Yancey Arias Peter Stormare |
Cinematography | Matt Gulley |
Edited by | Glenn Garland Jim May |
Production company | Snoot Entertainment |
Distributed by | IFC Midnight |
Release date |
|
Running time | 91 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Undocumented is a 2010 independent horror thriller directed by Chris Peckover and written by Chris Peckover and Joe Peterson. [1] It stars Scott Mechlowicz, Alona Tal, Yancey Arias, Kevin Weisman and Peter Stormare. [2]
This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed.(March 2021) |
Filmmakers Travis, William, Liz, Davie, and Jim are filming a documentary on illegal Mexican immigrants. After interviewing several of Davie's family members and harassing an employer of illegal immigrants named Whitaker, the group accompanies a large group of immigrants including Davie's cousin Alberto and his wife and child, across the Mexico–United States border.
Once in the United States, the truck carrying the immigrants is stopped and taken by what seems to be the United States Border Patrol. The truck is instead taken to a facility where the filmmakers are interrogated and the immigrants taken captive. The group that has taken them is a radical patriot group that despises illegal immigrants, Mexicans in particular. The patriots, led by "Z," gives the filmmakers a proposition; film the patriots and document their torture of illegal immigrants, and be let free, or die along with the immigrants. The leader of the patriots lets all of the immigrant children go, including Alberto's daughter.
The first part the filmmakers must film is the torture of an immigrant who smuggles drugs across the border into the U.S. Liz tries to intervene but the immigrant is beaten to death. The next morning, one of Z's henchman give the filmmakers a tour of the facility. When they are shown around the "pens" holding men and women, Alberto becomes enraged and is sprayed by a high pressure hose. Alberto is then taken to a room where he is quizzed on America's government and history. If he gets a question wrong, Alberto's wife's joints are pulled into stress positions. When asked which historical figure said "Give me liberty, or give me death!", Alberto incorrectly answers Thomas Jefferson after being given the answer by William, causing Alberto's wife and William to be killed.
The same night, the group tries to escape from the facility in the cover of darkness by using the night vision mode on their camera. During the attempt, Travis knocks over a metal fence, causing Z's wife to check on the imprisoned immigrants, where the filmmakers are hiding. After a close call, the group escapes outside, where they find the body of Alberto's daughter caught in razor wire. Alberto's grieving alerts Z's henchman and a watchdog that mangles Jim's arm and leg. The group is recaptured, with a permanent guard standing watch outside of their room. They are then forced to record a conscious immigrants organ removal, where the appalling scene causes Jim to collapse. When the filmmakers visit Jim, Liz gets into an altercation with Z, leading to them being trapped back in their room.
After trying to signal a truck that was unknowingly operated by one of Z's henchmen, Davie's aunt is killed, leading to Davie being beaten to death after attacking a henchman. Travis is then forced to "interview" Whitaker and the coyote who led the immigrants into Mexico. Both are subsequently killed by Z. As a "parting gift," Liz and Travis are branded with the radical group's symbol. A sedated and delirious Travis is forced to swing a baseball bat at a piñata that is unknowingly wrapped around Jim. Liz attempts to kill Z with the bat, but is also sedated before she can strike him.
Travis and Liz are told they will be kept indefinitely. When the henchman in charge of guarding Travis and Liz gets impatient, Travis beats him to death and steals his gun, shooting a second henchman in the leg. Travis and Liz release the immigrants and save Alberto. When they attempt to start an old truck, Z nearly kills Travis, but he is shot by Alberto before doing so. After escaping, it is shown that the three reached help, and state police raided the compound. Alberto is sent back to Mexico after nine months and anonymous tapes are sent to a media center in Arizona, showing Z with an even larger group.
The United States border with Mexico is one of the world's "most lethal land borders". Hundreds of migrants die per year as they attempt to cross into the United States from Mexico illegally. The US Border Patrol reported 251 migrant deaths in the fiscal year 2015, which was lower than any year during the period 2000–2014, and reported 247 migrant deaths in fiscal year 2020, lower than any year since 1998. Poverty, gang violence, poor governance, etc. are the main factors as to why migrants cross the US border. US Border Patrol recorded 557 southwest border deaths during fiscal year 2021 and 748 in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2022, the most deaths ever recorded.
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps was a volunteer group at one time headed by Chris Simcox and dedicated to preventing illegal crossings of the United States border with Mexico. Arguing that the government was insufficiently concerned with securing the border, they organized several state chapters, with the intention of providing law enforcement agencies with evidence of immigration law violations. The group was one of several that emerged for the proliferation of civilian border patrol groups at the US-Mexico border. Arguably, the emergence of these groups can be linked to the increasing criminalization and securitization of immigration. Simcox stated that the group merely reported incidents to law enforcement, and did not directly confront immigrants. There was a standard operating procedure (SOP) that was to be followed by Minutemen volunteers, with rules including not speaking to, approaching, gesturing towards or having physical contact in any way with any suspected border crossers. According to Anthony Ramirez of the New York Times, the organization "has been criticized as being a right-wing militia".
The National Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution (NHRI) accredited at the United Nations with "A" status by the International Co-ordinating Committee of NHRIs. It is also a voting member of the International Ombudsman Institute, and its president thus is considered as the national ombudsman for Mexico.
The Mexico–United States border is an international border separating Mexico and the United States, extending from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traverses a variety of terrains, ranging from urban areas to deserts. It is the most frequently crossed border in the world with approximately 350 million documented crossings annually. Illegal crossing of the border to enter the United States has caused the Mexico–United States border crisis. It is one of two international borders that the United States has, the other being the northern Canada–United States border; Mexico has two other borders: with Belize and with Guatemala.
The Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 was a bill in the 109th United States Congress. It was passed by the United States House of Representatives on December 16, 2005, by a vote of 239 to 182, but did not pass the Senate. It was also known as the "Sensenbrenner Bill," for its sponsor in the House of Representatives, Wisconsin Republican Jim Sensenbrenner. The bill was the catalyst for the 2006 U.S. immigration reform protests and was the first piece of legislation passed by a house of Congress in the United States illegal immigration debate. Development and the effect of the bill was featured in "The Senate Speaks", Story 11 in How Democracy Works Now: Twelve Stories a documentary series from filmmaking team Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini.
In 2006–2007, millions of people participated in protests over a proposed change to U.S. immigration policy. These large scale mobilizations are widely seen as a historic turning point in Latino politics, especially Latino immigrant civic participation and political influence, as noted in a range of scholarly publications in this field. The protests began in response to proposed legislation known as H.R. 4437, which would raise penalties for illegal immigration and classify illegal individuals and anyone who helped them enter or remain in the US as felons. As part of the wider immigration debate, most of the protests not only sought a rejection of this bill, but also a comprehensive reform of the country's immigration laws that included a path to citizenship for all illegal immigrants.
Illegal immigration, or unauthorized immigration, occurs when foreign nationals, known as aliens, violate US immigration laws by entering the United States unlawfully, or by lawfully entering but then remaining after the expiration of their visas, parole or temporary protected status.
Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to do so. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, from poorer to richer countries. Illegal residence in another country creates the risk of detention, deportation, and other imposed sanctions.
The Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act of 2007 or STRIVE Act of 2007 is proposed United States legislation designed to address the problem of illegal immigration, introduced into the United States House of Representatives. Its supporters claim it would toughen border security, increase enforcement of and criminal penalties for illegal immigration, and establish an employment verification system to identify illegal aliens working in the United States. It would also establish new programs for both illegal aliens and new immigrant workers to achieve legal citizenship. Critics allege that the bill would turn law enforcement agencies into social welfare agencies as it would not allow CBP to detain illegal immigrants that are eligible for Z-visas and would grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens with very few restrictions.
Anti-Mexican sentiment, is prejudice, fear, discrimination, or hatred towards Mexico and people of Mexican descent, Mexican culture and/or Mexican Spanish. It is most commonly found in the United States.
Colloquially, a coyote is a person who smuggles immigrants across the Mexico–United States border. The word "coyote" is a loanword from Mexican Spanish that usually refers to a species of North American wild dog (Canis latrans).
There are thought to be over half a million undocumented immigrants residing in New York City. They come from many parts of the world, especially Latin America, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Caribbean. About 70% of them have paid work, in catering, construction, retail, driving, cleaning, and many other trades; at least in catering, their wages tend to be lower than those of comparable workers.
Illegal immigration in Mexico has occurred at various times throughout history, especially in the 1830s and since the 1970s. The largest source of illegal immigrants in Mexico are the impoverished Central American countries of Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and El Salvador and African countries like Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Guinea, Ghana and Nigeria. The largest single group of illegal immigrants in Mexico is from the United States.
Deportation and removal from the United States occurs when the U.S. government orders a person to leave the country. In fiscal year 2014, Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted 315,943 removals. Criteria for deportations are set out in 8 U.S.C. § 1227.
Bajo el mismo cielo, is an American telenovela created by Perla Farías for Telemundo. The telenovela is an adaptation of the 2011 American drama film A Better Life directed by Chris Weitz by the screenplay Eric Eason.
The issue of crimes committed by illegal immigrants to the United States is a topic that is often asserted by more conservative politicians and media outlets when discussing immigration policy in the United States.
United Constitutional Patriots is a right-wing unofficial militia group based in Flora Vista in northern New Mexico, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), operating primarily in the southern part of the state detaining alleged illegal immigrants. It came to national attention in the United States by April 2019. The governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham, released a statement indicating the vigilantes have no legal right to detain people entering the US. The head of UCP is Larry Mitchell Hopkins who uses the pseudonym Johnny Horton, Jr.
Prevention Through Deterrence is a set of policies instituted by the United States to deter the illegal crossing of its southern border with Mexico. First introduced in a document entitled "Border Patrol Strategic Plan of 1994 and Beyond", this policy has since been used to police high-traffic areas of the Mexico–United States border.
Joe Biden's immigration policy initially focused on reversing many of the immigration policies of the previous Trump administration, before implementing stricter enforcement mechanisms later in his term.
Borderland is a limited-run 2014 television documentary series, produced by Australian production company In Films. It was the first original commission for Al Jazeera America's documentary unit, premiering on 13 April 2014. The series followed six Americans as they retraced the fatal journey of three undocumented migrants who died attempting to cross into the United States.