Immigration Nation
A Nuanced and Difficult Spotlight on the U.S. Immigration System
From the very first scene, the Netflix documentary series Immigration Nation quickly grabs viewers—and does not let go. The series aims to address the impact of sweeping reforms enacted during the Trump era, and how they upended the lives of millions of undocumented immigrants around the country.
Installing Fear, as the first episode is aptly named, is an emotional thread that is woven throughout the entire six-episode series. Immediately following the expansive opening shots, viewers are whisked along on one of many filmed ride-alongs with deportation officers—showing officers “doing their jobs” and crying family members forced to suddenly say good bye to their loved ones.
The compelling question of whether there is, or has ever been, “a right way” to immigrate — and what that might even entail — is explored in depth.
Poignantly, the first episode of the documentary series was released in August 2020, just around the Trump-Biden presidential race.
The series depicts people often obscured from the public eye—up-close views of ICE agents and officials, community activists, immigration attorneys, asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants. Their differing perspectives paint a vivid and more complete picture of the convoluted U.S. immigration system.
Viewers come face-to-face with both the personal perspectives of ICE officers—their testimonials, at times flip and unyielding, sit uneasily alongside harrowing accounts from immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. Conversely, we hear the harrowing accounts of parents separated from their children at the border, and learn of undocumented immigrants without criminal records — deported due to their bystander status during an ICE raid. We learn of judges who are unable to rule independently, as they are bound to deportation “quotas.”
We confront the life-and-death perils of crossing the desert, and the cruelty of the deterrence policies adopted by the U.S. government.
The compelling question of whether there is, or has ever been, “a right way” to immigrate — and what that might even entail — is explored in depth. The immigration policies of the Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Trump are shown in relief. Democrat or Republican, they all built policies that borrowed from one another. Especially jarring is the swift, post-911 narrative shift that has, to this day, conflated immigration with the risk of terrorism.
The series carefully takes into account both the necessity of processing the flow of people who cross the border, and the deep flaws, inefficiencies, questionable private sector profits, and undocumented worker exploitation all inherent in the system. It is easy to see how the system exploits the vulnerable, and offers opportunities to the wealthy.
The one topic sorely (but perhaps understandably) missing from the series, is a closer, more critical look at the political history between the United States and Central and Latin America. Political and economic instability, and subsequent flows of immigration and asylum, do not happen in a vacuum and the effects of U.S. imperialism and interventions in Latin America cannot be understated.
Much more needs to be detailed and discussed on how we can change our immigration, path to citizenship, and undocumented labor system into one that honors our common humanity.
Immigration Nation takes an important look at what it means for the United States to think of itself as a “country of immigrants.” Most importantly, it humanizes people who exist within a system that has always sought to keep then nameless, faceless, and in the shadows.
