Border Wars Stacey Dooley in the USA

RADIO: 'Good morning, Arizona. Beautiful day in the desert today.

'Sun is shining, 105 in Tucson...

'..and what forecasters say will be a prolonged heatwave...'

-STACEY DOOLEY:

-'This is the heart of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona.

'There are no towns or villages here,

'just hundreds of miles of 70 degree heat and rattlesnakes.

'But this is a pathway to the American dream.

'And it's a dangerous one.'

RADIO: 'From the scorching hot desert to the cold county morgue,

'unfortunately, that is how the story ends

'for hundreds of immigrants who make that trip...'

'In the last five years, more than 1,000 people have died

'trying to walk across this patch of desert.'

Do we know how this lady died?

It is likely they succumbed to thirst.

-This is common, this is happening often.

-Yes.

They don't think that they are going to be part of a statistic,

they think that they are going to be the one that could make it.

'I'm going to follow the young people preparing to make

'the most dangerous journey of their lives...'

Four, five, six... How many? 20?

'..to find out why they're willing to risk it all to cross a border.

'And I'll be meeting the Americans doing their best to keep them out.'

It is dangerous. It's high risk, you know. Not everybody makes it.

# California, rest in peace... #

'For me, California is the American dream.

'But just a day's drive east it's a very different picture.

'The Sonoran Desert is on the border of America and Mexico.

'And this is where many young people risk their lives trying

'to cross into America illegally.

'They prepare for their journey in a small town close to the border.

'It's called Altar.

'And I'm heading there. But it's risky.

'This whole area of Mexico is controlled by drug cartels.'

RADIO: '50,000 people have died in Mexico's drug war...

'..to identify 49 bodies dumped on the side of a highway...

'..police found 18 beheaded bodies in two vehicles.'

This is a really hostile environment.

It's notorious, so we both have to make sure

the doors are locked at all times.

This is the most daunting place I have ever been to,

and I have been to some hairy scenes.

'On the surface, Altar looks like an ordinary town,

'but in reality nothing happens here without the cartel's say-so.

'I needed someone to help me stay safe,

'and was pinning my hopes on the local priest, known as the Padre.'

-Hola.

-Father Prisciliano?

-Si.

-Stacey.

-Hola.

-Lovely to meet you.

I know it can be quite dangerous here, quite difficult,

so I figured you would be an amazing man to have around, if that's OK.

'The Padre has a unique position here.

'He manages to help the migrants without antagonising the cartels.

'It was soon clear that everything in Altar revolved around the business of people smuggling.'

So why would it be too dangerous for me to be here alone?

'First stop was a hostel.

'The Padre knew people who worked here and felt we'd be safe.'

'The Padre pointed me in the direction of Junior,

'whose parents manage the hostel.'

Hello!

Sorry, you're in the middle of your washing.

We'll come back, I'll give you a hand with it.

'He agreed to show me around.'

-This is one of the rooms?

-Yes, this is one of the rooms.

Usually, about three people fit in each bed,

so it would be three, six,

-nine, 12, about 15 people in here.

-Wow.

In this one room, 15 people?

There is usually about two or three people per bed.

See this stuff right here?

You can tell people are still staying here, because they have

their blankets and their backpacks right here, but here,

people used to stay here, but they left, you can see that they have left

all their stuff they don't need right here.

Why do they do it? Why do they leave some stuff?

When they come, they bring a backpack.

Their backpack is full of clothes, and their clothes,

they use those clothes until they leave,

and then all the clothes they have left, they just throw it away,

because they need to fill up their backpack with food.

And when you are out there, if I am walking like this

and you have no water, and you are very thirsty,

you are literally dying,

and if you ask me for some water, I will say, "No, get your own."

That is how the people are out there. Survival for the fittest.

Survival for the fittest.

'I wanted to meet the people preparing to cross the border.'

Hello!

Como estas?

Tell me when you got here, when you arrived.

How do you feel?

You seem very chilled.

And how old are you, Maria?

You seem much older.

You seem so...

Have you got any pictures of your babies?

Maria, I'll see you soon.

'Maria's already travelled almost 2,000 miles to get here.

'She's come from Oaxaca, one of the poorest states in Mexico.

'People-smugglers go here to sell the American dream,

'charging up to 7,000 for the trip.'

'Everyone here is now waiting for a guide,

'a person they've paid to walk them across the desert into America.

'They're known as coyotes.'

Hola!

'I'm told Alma and Marta have been waiting for their coyote for a week.'

What's your age?

And your mum and dad know that you're doing this journey?

What about you, Alma? Have you left a family behind also?

I have never ever been in a position where I have had to think,

me mum's skint, me dad's skint,

everyone's hungry, the only real solution to this

is me risking my life to try and earn a wage and send it back.

They are nice girls, they're normal.

It's like me knocking about with my normal girls. They're young.

They just want to grow up. They just want to work.

'Alma's husband Pedro is also making the dangerous journey across the desert.'

Alma was mentioning that you've left your little boy at home.

And how many days do you think you could do it in?

I know it's a silly question, but does it scare you?

Are you frightened?

When do you think, realistically, that you, your wife

and Marta will leave?

In an hour? One hour?

'Alma and Marta has pulled together the bare essentials.'

So what's in that bag, Alma?

Oh, yeah. So what are these?

Really? So you put this on your foot so they can't find your footprint?

Wow.

Will this be enough for possibly five days?

'It would have to be, because their coyote had just arrived,

'and it was time for them to set off for the border.'

Bye.

The guys have literally just got in the van.

There's ten or 12 of them, and they're off.

-They're off to try and cross the border.

-There's still going to be a lot more people.

There's more people coming, is there?

-Yeah, there's more people going inside.

-How many do you think will leave?

It's usually like 20 people inside one van.

It will be very hot in there and they have to drive for two hours.

I've only spent a short while with them, but you start...

I would never say it to them, but you start thinking in your head,

what if...

You know, what if you don't make it across?

What if you die?

'I started to feel that, although the cartels were out of sight,

'they were everywhere, and anything could happen.

'Back at my motel, without the Padre for protection,

'it really hit home where I was.'

Sorry, I just thought I heard something outside.

GENTLE WHISTLING

That whistling is really sinister.

There's somebody whistling outside my motel room.

He can probably see in.

In a motel, one of the most dangerous parts of Mexico.

What am I doing here?

I wasn't made for this weather. It's so, so hot.

It's heat like I've never felt.

Then again, that's me sat on a block of stairs in the shade,

not out in the desert for days and days trying to cross the border.

'I wanted to see the place where the people

'I'd met yesterday were planning to cross.

'It's a two-hour trip to the border,

'and the road's controlled by the cartel.

'The Padre had warned people we were coming,

'but he told them we were missionaries, not a film crew.'

We can film or not film? There's a car coming.

STACEY HUMS NERVOUSLY

'If the cartels controlled the smuggling of drugs and people,

'I wondered if their two businesses were ever linked.'

Father, seeing how desperate so many people are here,

do you reach a certain level of desperation,

where you are perhaps tempted to start getting involved in the business,

start taking packages or things over that you are asked to take?

"All right, we'll take you over, but could you take this with you?"

Does a bit of that come into it?

So how many vans would you say go through this route every day?

Each hour? Each hour?

-Wow. Hola!

-Hi, Stacey!

So where are you guys going to? Need I ask?

-Camping!

-We are going to work. To America!

This way?

'Just metres from the border, I found a makeshift camp

'with people sheltering as best they could from the blazing sun.'

The heat is absolutely...it's like nothing I've ever felt before.

I can't explain it.

It makes you feel lethargic and you feel... It's not nice.

'I wanted to know about the journey from here,

'but the Padre told me it was too dangerous to ask a coyote.

'One thing was for sure -

'no-one could go anywhere until the coyote said so.'

Hello, my name's Stacey.

-Rodrigo. Nice to meet you.

-Rodrigo, night to meet you also.

So, how long have you been waiting here?

Well, just in this place, it's been 2½ or three days only.

We have to wait until there is the right moment for us to go across,

because we don't want to be caught.

-Where are you from?

-Mexico City.

-OK.

Have you always lived there? Or have you lived in America?

No, I was there when I was little, but my family brought me

to United States, so I have been there since then.

I went to school there, you know. I been there for 20 years,

and I haven't had the chance to get the papers.

-Have you done this journey before?

-Yes, like three or four times.

Really?

If I could have a better life in Mexico City, I would never go through this.

But it is getting harder in Mexico.

There is no job for you

and there is a lot of bad activities in Mexico -

drugs, weapons, kidnapping, things like that.

I've never experienced anything like this before.

And I hope in my heart that you never have to go through this situation.

I don't know how you do it.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

'I could see why Rodrigo thought he could cross here.

'But then I realised there was more than just a low fence

'standing in his way.'

Border patrol.

'To try and stop drugs and illegal immigrants getting in,

'the US border agency was out on patrol.

'It's a dangerous game of cat and mouse to get past them.'

But he's in America now.

I'm worried that border patrol are going to come

and find him and the two girls.

Are you guys literally leaving right now to cross the border?

What happened? Why weren't you successful?

Shoot! Oh, my gosh. This is all from the trip?

'Their coyote was nowhere to be seen.

'They'd each paid 7,000 to get across.

'Now they have nothing to show for it.'

This is probably the scariest place I've ever been.

I don't feel particularly comfy.

Padre doesn't feel that comfy, and I know that's

when it's time to maybe not start pushing your luck.

'Just as we were leaving, there was news about the girls who'd

'collapsed just beyond the border.'

Hola. How are the girls?

How are the girls?

The girls were caught?

So the girls will be deported, but the two lads,

there was another two guys with them, and they've made it back.

If you meet people who are in the worst situation possible,

but for these guys, they are so blase about it, it's so normal.

Just another day on the border.

More migrants. More, more migrants.

Got their water bottles, got their cars.

It's just never-ending. It's absolutely never-ending.

'It's estimated that almost one million people

'attempt to cross into America like this every year.'

Today really hammered home for me the scale of this business.

It's huge. It's rife. It's massive out here.

There's thousands and thousands of Mexicans and people from

South America trying to cross this border every single day, every hour.

I liked Rodrigo. I think he was a really nice guy.

I think he was genuine.

I think he wanted to cross the border for reasons that

I completely understand.

Yeah. I felt for him. I was gutted for him.

He's...in a pretty crappy situation, to be honest.

'The following morning, I headed back to see the Padre.'

Oh, hello, baby. Oh, who's this scary English lady?

And Mummy and Daddy.

-Really?

-Si.

Wow.

'Manuela, Jorge and baby Pedro have travelled

'more than 2,000 miles from their village in Guatemala,

'another place coyotes go to drum up business.'

So you've got a big debt now.

You've got a big debt that's growing and growing

that you have to pay back to the coyote?

PEDRO WAILS

HE CRIES

He's OK. He's fine.

'I'd never seen people so desperate.

'We couldn't do anything about their mounting debt,

'but the Padre told us the Red Cross might be able to help baby Pedro.'

The Father sent us over. I hope that's OK.

Shh! Shh! Shh!

'The doctor told us Pedro had the flu.'

This is a leaflet especially just for migrants?

I mean, do you have any of these things ready for the desert?

Even though Pedro's poorly, if you got asked to go tonight,

would you leave? Would you go?

In my heart, I don't reckon

it's a good idea to bring Pedro over if he's poorly,

but it's totally obviously not my shout.

She's his mum. She knows best.

It's sort of...the lesser of two evils.

You stay here and life is...

..a nightmare.

Or you take a chance and hope that it ends the way you want it to end.

''The next day I paid a final visit to the hostel.

Hello! All right? What's going on?

'I wanted to see if Maria was still there

'or had managed to start her own journey into America.'

Hey! Maria! Hello, love! All right?

You OK?

Como estas?

What are you doing?

You're leaving now?

So this is water? Agua? Is that enough, Maria? One bottle?

It's going to be enough for you? Are you sure?

For me, I can never imagine having to put myself

in that situation you have had to.

'To keep her safe in the desert,

'there was one more thing Maria wanted to do.'

Thank you so much. Gracias. Gracias.

We've got to go?

OK. OK.

I have to leave right now because of the cameras.

The van's got to come and collect them,

but he won't come whilst he knows we're here with the Father.

I really like Maria, I think she's a really good girl.

'The Padre couldn't give us any more time,

'so it was time for us to say goodbye.'

Thank you so, so, so much

for keeping me alive and showing me everything.

I've learnt loads. Thank you, Father.

-Nos vemos. Que descanses.

-Thank you.

-That's OK.

-Adios!

-Adios, amigo!

-OK.

'Thanks to the Padre, I'd had a chance

'to see what was happening to people on the Mexican side of the border.

'But it was time to look at things from the other side of the fence.

'With a British passport and a work visa,

'it was easy for me to get into America.'

Hola. Hello.

-Where are you coming from?

-Oh, erm... Mex... Mexico.

-What was the purpose of your trip?

-Working. It was with work.

-All right. Have a good day.

-That's very kind. Thank you.

'Now I was in the American part of the Sonoran Desert,

'in Arizona.

'For the people I'd met in Mexico,

'the Sonoran Desert is a pathway to the American Dream.

'But it's also a notorious drugs route.'

'Mexican traffickers routinely take advantage

'of huge gaps along the border to smuggle their contraband.'

'US Border Patrol and Texas agents seize another load of marijuana.'

'The US Border Patrol is America's first line of defence.

'Now I had a chance to really see the border,

'but, this time, through Border Patrol's eyes.'

-Oh, my God! I'm nervous.

-Oh, don't be nervous.

-Oh.

-Stacey, this is your air crew.

-Hello. How's things?

The pilot in command is Jeff Bowen.

-How's things, Jeff? Nice to meet you.

-Co-pilot is Ron.

-Hello, Ron.

So, what's the plan for today?

Talk me through what you guys will be doing.

Well, what we've got, we've got a pretty simple mission today.

We're going to go out and take a look

to see anything that looks out of the ordinary.

It's going to be people, it's going to be vehicles,

it's going to be drug-loaded vehicles...

And, in summertime, we probably do as many rescues as anything

because, when we're capturing people in this heat,

-we're saving them.

-Yeah.

'Within minutes,

'we saw a group caught by Border Patrol on the ground.'

'201 for 17.'

So, we've just got a call, we've just got a call in now.

We've got a call around a place called Horse Peak.

Are they nearby?

Yeah, we're almost there.

-Good job, Jeff.

-This side's up.

'We touched down just 2 miles from the Mexican border camp

'I'd been to only days before.'

-Do we need a medic?

-Yeah, she will. She's... She's pregnant.

She's pregnant, she's hurt her stomach!

This man's concerned.

You know, he's had a look at the lady

and if they don't elevate her feet

and get her in some kind of comfortable position,

there's a chance that she could give birth here.

-She says she's hurt it bad, man.

-Yeah, load her up and take her.

She's not...

-Please may you just tell me what's happened here, very quickly?

-She...

I guess, she heard us and she started running but she fell

and she stumbled...

So, she's seven months pregnant right now,

no complications or pregnancy problems.

She's having a lot of pain in her stomach.

And are these all migrants?

Are they here to work? Were they here carrying drugs?

-What's the story?

-No, they're here, probably, to work.

-So, yeah, they're just regular people.

-Did you find the coyote?

No. We don't know yet. We don't know.

We haven't interviewed them yet, so...

How many have you detained?

I think we've got, like, maybe eight right now.

Please may I ask where you think these people have come from?

She's from Guatemala. De donde son ustedes?

They're from Guatemala.

-So, what's your name?

-Huh?

-What's your name?

-Benjamin.

-Benjamin?

-Yeah.

Is this your first time trying?

Uh, I've been in USA five years.

-That's why you can speak English?

-Yeah, that's why I speak English.

Have you paid a lot of money to do this?

6,000.

'Border Patrol told me they often find heavily pregnant women

'trying to cross the desert.

'They're hoping to give their babies a better life

'by giving birth in America.

'They're known as anchor babies.'

Tonight was pretty out-there, for me.

She looks like she could give birth there and then.

Like, it was just...

and then she was lying on the floor and she was crying

and then a youth...

And at the time, it's so mad, you...

you don't...

you feel nervous and then you panic for her

and then Border Patrol are really happy because they've got this...

they've found all these people, so you think...

You're just... You...

I feel really torn.

'Border Patrol catch around 300,000 people

'trying to make this crossing every year.

'But it's estimated that almost double that amount

'could still be getting past them.

'So, in Arizona,

'they've pushed through tough new measures to try and catch more.'

'Police officers are going to be able to stop any person

'if there is reasonable suspicion they are an illegal immigrant,

'demand to see ID and arrest them...'

'But for a small minority of people, this is not enough.'

# Have you seen...? #

-SHE LAUGHS

-Hello. How's things? I'm Stacey.

-Hi, I'm Harry Hughes.

-Real pleasure to meet you, Harry.

-Hello.

-Thora Jaeger.

-Hello, Thora. Nice to meet you both.

-Thanks for having me.

-Great.

# Have you seen that vigilante man? #

We have a problem with drug and human smuggling out here

and people are on edge... people are scared.

'Harry and his group

'do their own unofficial patrols of the border area,

'and he's invited me to join them.'

-Are you not hot in that?

-Huh?

-Are you not hot in that?

What happens is you begin to perspire

and that little, light breeze will actually make you feel kind of cool.

OK.

This is a vest, it's a chest rig.

It holds ammunition, I have a radio on this thing...

..it's comfortable to wear...

I keep the 9mm pistol right here, both have extra ammunition...

Will we get a move on?

Is that you ready? Are you going to be able to drive in all of that?

One last thing, my water.

Oh, gosh, Harry. You're making me hot, looking at you.

Let's go.

This is it.

-Is that gun... Is it on safety?

-Oh, yes, it is.

Don't take my leg off!

'Although he's armed to the teeth,

'Harry claims it's just for protection whilst out on patrol.'

So, Harry, where are we?

We're...

we're in the infamous Vehicle Valley.

We're along Interstate 8.

We have Thora, Alex, Sue and David.

So, you guys come out here with Harry? Tell me why.

Tell me why you're here.

To stop... To try to stop some of the stuff that goes on

as it gets further in, like, to my house.

When the illegals come through and steal chickens and...

They just need to find some way to stop the borders, to close them.

You know, every effort they've done has done absolutely nothing.

If anything, it's gotten worse.

And how do you know about all these things that go on, Alex?

-By the news.

-By the news?

-Yes.

Do you see migrants yourself?

-Have you seen...?

-Sometimes, yeah.

We see them all the time. In the fields, they're working...

They...

overtook our area.

They... They're gross.

THEY LAUGH

I mean, do you honestly believe that people

would rather come over here illegally than legally?

-Honestly? You do think that?

-It's cheaper.

-A lot of people do.

And they do, because...

The first thing they do when they come in this country

is commit a crime.

They're not here for a better life.

So please may you explain to me, very simply,

what happens here with the migrants coming in illegally?

OK. We have the Interstate here.

They know where the bridges are and they will crawl under these bridges,

under the bridge here, and wait.

-And then, I guess...

-Alex is showing where they come through.

-Alex!

-What?

-Come back.

Do these people come from the desert?

-Will they have walked a couple of days in the desert?

-Yeah.

And they will wait there, yeah.

This is how they go through our fences.

Just like that.

-And then a car will come here?

-And then a car will be right here,

where the tyre marks are, and they will pick them up

and back onto the Interstate and to other cities and states

and gone they are.

Check this out, Stacey.

This is where they keep their water.

This is, perhaps, the icon for illegal immigration

in Southern Arizona, it's these black plastic jugs.

There is a path, a trail of these jugs

leading all the way from here to Mexico.

Why do you want to stop these people?

Well, just for the safety and security of my own neighbourhood.

People in my neighbourhood are scared of these people

running around at night, you know,

knocking on doors, disturbing animals...

If you stumbled across an illegal immigrant,

what would you do?

I've got the Border Patrol's phone number right in my phone.

They know me by name down there, so yeah, they would...

most certainly oblige and, you know, dispatch somebody to...

you know, process them, take them and just...

run them through the system and send them home.

So, Mexico is this way?

That's correct.

You know, people are walking...

three, four, five, six days...

-From beyond those mountains, yes.

-..from beyond these mountains.

Then when they get here, they must think, "I've made it!"

"I've done it."

HE LAUGHS They might.

Until they bump into you.

It's a long walk, that.

I think you can't help but...

just keep imagining Maria, Manuela, baby Pedro, people like that.

You know, it's realistic... they could really be...

60-odd miles that way, coming,

just coming from Mexico into America and...

this would be the actual route that so many people I've met

would take...will take.

You know, a couple of days ago, a week, whatever,

I wouldn't have, if I'd seen them black bottles here, I would...

I wouldn't have even given them a second thought,

but it sort of hammers home that...

this is very real. That sounds silly, but it is.

It's real people, really crossing this real border and...

really risking their lives and...

God, how unlucky would you have to be to bump into someone like...

Harry?

'Later that night, I got some news.'

I've had an e-mail saying...

..I've got a message off of Maria.

SHE LAUGHS

Wow!

She made it.

# California, California

# Here we come... #

Maria is now one of the six million Mexicans

living illegally in America.

They mostly work

in low-paid farming, cleaning or construction jobs.

Maria's found herself a job picking fruit.

We arranged to meet in a local park,

but as she's illegal,

I had to make it clear I couldn't help her in any way.

Hello!

Hola!

Wow!

Oh, my God!

-You OK?

-Yeah, yeah.

I can't believe you're here!

Do you want to come over? You look wicked!

Mmm?

-You look lovely.

-Oh, si!

-Si!

-Muy diferente.

'Being seen with a film crew was clearly making Maria feel nervous.'

How tiring is it, Maria? How...

..difficult is it to do that journey?

Is it worth you being here? Are you going to get money here

that you perhaps wouldn't have been able to get at home in Mexico?

And how long would it take you, Maria,

to earn 600 in Mexico?

Are you feeling worried at all? Because you are here illegally.

'Maria wasn't keen to hang about

'and I couldn't blame her.

'As long as she stays here, she'll always live in fear of being caught.

'Whether you're rounded up by Border Patrol crossing the desert

'or you've lived illegally in America for 20 years,

'if the authorities find you, you'll be deported.

'Most people are sent back through the same crossing point.

'On one side of the border is the city of San Diego

'and on the other the Mexican city of Tijuana.'

# Tijuana

# Land of broken dreams

# Senorita... #

'When people are deported, they may not even have

'a chance to pack their things.

'They can be sent back with just the clothes they're standing up in.'

-What's your name?

-Catalina.

-Catalina?

-Stacey.

-Oh.

-Nice to meet you.

What happened?

What...? What did your son say?

You're going to stay at the shelter now.

What, after the shelter?

Where are you going to stay?

This situation's really, really, really difficult.

You know, some of the time, I'm thinking,

"Stacey, be realistic. You do need borders.

"You can't, sort of, open the doors willy-nilly

"and let every single person that wants to come into America in."

Because then, maybe, perhaps, Americans will start to suffer.

You know, you have to think about it... more broadly.

But then when you bump into ladies like that, you just think...

..just let her go back.

You know, there's illegal immigrants in London.

I don't think I'll ever...

erm...

..look at them in the same way. I don't think you can.

I think, when you've seen things like this, you really get to...

..understand how other... You know, other people's circumstances.

'The Mexican government offers people a ticket to their hometown,

'but I wondered what happened to those, like Catalina,

'who had no family to go back to.

'I went to meet Michaela, a woman who has dedicated her life

'to helping people who have nowhere left to go.'

This is where all the deported people end up after they are deported,

and they don't have a place to live and they don't have a job.

-So, we're going to feed them a little bit. OK?

-Yeah, no, sure.

-So, what, they live here? In the canal?

-They live here, in the canal.

Why do a lot of the guys choose to live here, particularly here?

Because they don't have...

When they are deported, they don't have a place to live

and some people cross to United States.

-They just keep trying?

-Yes, keep trying, yeah.

-So, this is like a base, is it?

-Yes.

-It's a very hard life here.

-I mean, this is like raw sewer, isn't it?

You can smell it, it's quite strong.

-The people live inside of...

-They live inside there?

Yes, inside.

-Are people living inside there now?

-Inside, yes.

-Are they there now...?

-Yeah. Do you want to go inside?

-These guys?

OK.

We go there and serve the food to these people.

Come with me.

-Aqui!

-Hola! All right?

-There you go. Pleasure.

-Thank you very much.

-No worries.

-God bless you.

-Oh, God bless you.

God bless you, eh?

Do you want to go?

Oh, this is grim.

SHE CRIES OUT

-And this... And this is where people are living?

-Yes.

This is just incredible, I cannot believe...

I mean, Rose, do you find this tricky?

Cos you're from America... I mean, I'm sure you and I

have grown up in very similar environments.

What on earth goes through your mind

when you first see something like this?

Um, I think there's absolutely no reason for it.

There's no reason why people need to be living like this.

It's hard to think that,

for people that have lived in the United States,

just as good, hard-working, honest citizens...

Well, illegal citizens, but, whatever, you know...

..that have lived in the United States, they've got family there,

their lives are there, it's really hard to envision

that all that can just be taken away in one instant.

For every person you meet that's deported, which, I think,

in the past four years, has been about 400,000 people,

there's...there's a family that's missing at least one

or maybe two or maybe three of their family members, you know?

It's like a nightmare. I've talked to guys who've said it's like a bad dream,

it's like you wake up one day and say, "What happened?"

-I was... I was in LA since I was 11 years old...

-You sound it!

..and then I...I got deported

and they told me, "Hey, you never had no papers,

"you were here since you were a baby but you don't have no papers.

"You can't come into this country, so we're going to kick you out."

-Could... Could you believe that...

-I can't.

-..you were hearing all that?

-No, I can't believe it.

I mean, I want to go back. I want to go and see my kids.

I want to die on the other side, you know?

It's not that I love America so much,

but I was raised over there, that's my life over there.

'It's too late for these people,

'but President Obama recently changed immigration policy,

'allowing young people brought to the US illegally as kids,

'and who've gone through the American school system,

'a chance to become legal there.'

Do you see the yellow line over there

-dividing the United States and Mexico?

-Yeah.

OK. This is the United States.

Oh, my God! There's a car right there.

Are we OK here? We're not going to get in trouble?

No, no, no. This is Mexico.

-This is the United States, though. See?

-That's California?

-Yes.

-That's California?

-California, yes.

It's a stark contrast,

what you see there to the left

-and what you see to the right.

-You see the rich side and the poor side.

You can see two sides.

If you're born a couple of hundred metres this side,

the chances are, life could be very, very, very difficult

and you're going to struggle for most of it.

If you're born a couple of hundred metres that way,

you've got way more opportunities,

things are certainly going to be brighter from the off.

You can travel, you can do lots...

You can do so much more over that side, like,

and it's luck. It's just luck.

That's all it is.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd