A few weeks ago I was invited by Paul Tran to join a group of high school students on a trip to the Mexico border in San Diego. The group consisted mostly of students who were either immigrants themselves, or from immigrant families from all over the world.
The students used the border as a symbol of obstacles in their own lives. They each wrote their personal feelings, obstacles, and challenges down on a piece of paper and attached them to a wall near the border (in the past, former groups would attach it to the border itself, but that is no longer allowed). After reading aloud their papers, a class mate would remove another student’s paper symbolizing the removal of those obstacles.
The students also participated in a deep discussion of the border itself and illegal immigration. It was interesting to see the border from their point of view: the confusion, strong opinions, and frustration are what stood out to me the most.
Below are some quotes taken from the students’ discussions along with stills from the shoot.
“It’s just like the Berlin wall”
A Mexican family waves at us from across the border
“We’re spending billions of dollars on somthing that is the epitome of stupid … we haven’t thought it out”
Mr. Ramos teaches the students the history of the wall
“If [terrorists] want to make an attack, they’ll find a way”
Students near the border
“There are different ways … better ways to make this work”
Paul leads the students in a discussion
“Why is it someone coming from France is like a beautiful thing, like ‘welcome to the US!’ but for Mexicans, you’re just … there.”
Two students discuss the border and illegal immigration
“Terrorism is when you instill fear into someone else … we’re the ones instilling fear into [the Mexicans]”
Personal notes near the border wall
- Jake Tapia, Director
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hey jake when i was reading this and seeing the photos i had an over whelming feeling of sadness and tears; it really is sad to see it like this! but what the mexican people don’t understand is that they can all get a loan to pay for a visa that cos millions of pesos less than paying a coyote to cross them illegally, and then they don’t have to steal our identities by buying our social security numbers from a person who steals them, i have personally had mine stolen more than 7x’s.
I don’t think you have to worry about identity theft from illegal immigrants who do not know how to use a computer when there are thousands of computer geeks who know how to break into your computer and still your identity. If anything, illegal immigrants make up social security numbers in order to work , something that has contributed with thousands of billions of dollars to the Social Security Department, since illegal immigrants never receive that money back. Ironically, those who collect on that money are the ones who attack illegal immigrants. In order to get a loan to you need to have an income or property, and money to pay fees. Do you think that if people had that they would even come here?? And even when they have the money to do it, the wait to receive a visa is long; you are talking about more than five years in the case of Mexican applicants. Do you think hunger and poverty can wait that long? If you felt compassion by looking at these pictures, please take the time to inform yourself. I don’t blame you for believing those false assumptions, there are so many myths out there that clutter the real facts about illegal immigration. You are already taking the time to be a part of this debate, I invite you to do more research and think critically so that you can distinguish between real facts and myths.
Thank you Estela for your input – I hope you find the finished film accurate and informative.