Filmmakers document consequences of U.S. immigration raid
Back in May 2008, U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials rounded up 389 undocumented workers in the Agriprocessors Inc. kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa. The raid was the largest in U.S history.
Two weeks later, filmmakers Jennifer Szymaszek and Greg Brosnan started filming “In the Shadow of the Raid,” a documentary film showing at the Morelia International Film Festival in Mexico. A 15-minute edit of the film was recently broadcast on PBS “Frontline’s” website.
“In the Shadow of the Raid” delves into the consequences of the ICE raid for Postville and for some of the the migrants who were arrested and deported back to their homes in two rural villages in Guatemala.
Following the closure of the meatpacking plant, Postville businesses failed and livelihoods were destroyed.
In Guatemala, migrant Willian Toj returned to his wife and parents. Awaiting him was a massive debt that he accrued from his trip to the U.S. He had been working in the Postville plant for 20 minutes before the ICE raid.
Toj can barely earn enough to pay the monthly interest on the $7,000 debt, let alone get the funds to treat his mother’s worsening cancer.
The tone of the documentary is observational rather than preachy, in the same vein as other recent works such as “Los Que Se Quedan / Those Who Remain.” The filmmakers try to reflect some of the realities that contribute to why so many Central Americans and Mexicans head to the United States. But there are no ICE officials interviewed, no legal redresses sought. Brosnan and Szymaszek focus on the people affected by the raid, and the resulting film is a photographic testament to a sad reality.
Watch the video for more.
– Deborah Bonello in Mexico City for the Los Angeles Times.
Video: An interview with Jennifer Szymaszek and Greg Brosnan, directors of “In the Shadow of the Raid.” All non-interview material courtesy of Szymaszek and Brosnan. Video interview by Deborah Bonello.
what about the americans who loose thier jobs and can’t feed or house our families? We are willing to do jobs here but we get F–k because these people come here and work for less so the american business owner hire them.
I think those posts in Culture category are very good, but why did you stop updating this category?
I don’t understand this film. It is their country! Are we supposed to feel bad that living there is so bad? They are ulitimatley responsible for their “debt” (paid for smugglers) and their own lives. We cannot subside the entire world and ohh.. Postville is doing just fine. A bunch of other immigrants jumped at the chance to get legitimate work at the plant. These two filmmakers are either dishonest or woefully ignorant.
I think those posts in Culture category are very good, but why did you stop updating this category?
[...] glad my friends’ film has made it into the finalist stage of the Rory Peck [...]
[...] filmmakers Jennifer Szymaszek and Greg Brosnan - have been nominated for a documentary that we featured more than a year [...]
[...] what we wrote about the documentary in September last year: The tone of the documentary is observational rather than preachy, in the same vein as other recent [...]
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Raf – it should be up on the feedI saw it convert to the right format in the blip.tv admin yesterday while Clif was uploading it. Because both this and Jorges interview went up yesterday, it may not be the top download. See if its something you have to manually select to download
I think what john was trying to say is that we as a society has put to much emphasis into technology and have forgotten how we got there in the first place. Yes, technology is a good thing and it has help better our lives, but we as a people have forgotten how to really work and earn what we have. This new revolution of computers and communication devices has made it easier and now we want it even though we cant afford it. Societys attitude now is, Ill get it now on credit, and worry about paying for it later. No one is taking responsibility for their actions, especially for their debt, now enters government.