Original subtitles

- The United States of America,

one of the richest countries in the world.

California, one of the richest states in America.

Los Angeles, one of the richest cities in California.

And in the City of Angels, spanning east to west,

from the studios in Burbank,

through the shopping in Beverly Hills,

to the estates in Bel Air,

lies the heart of Hollywood.

In this area is some of the most expensive real estate

in the world.

And down the street live Jonathan and Mandy.

Their home today is a sidewalk

by the Veterans Administration in Los Angeles.

Jonathan is an ex-marine, a veteran of the Iraq War.

He and his wife are two of the thousands

of homeless veterans in America today.

They're also a part

of over half a million homeless Americans

in the wealthiest nation in the world,

the United States of America.

- My name is Jonathan DeCoster.

I was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Kentucky is a beautiful,

it's a beautiful place, I'll say that.

You get all four seasons in one week.

My dad's name was Charles DeCoster.

He was my best friend.

- Your brother was deployed at that time, right?

Or was he...

You guys were deployed at the same time.

- I think my brother was deployed.

I think he was on a ship at that time.

But when I was in Iraq, my brother was also there.

My family is super religious.

You know, gung-ho Jesus, so to speak.

I grew up in a Pentecostal church

where it was constant hell, fire, and damnation.

So, every night when I went to bed,

I was concerned about dying and burning in hell

for the rest of eternity.

- My mother said, "You know what?

Your father pray more than I pray.

Your father know about the Catholic Church

more than I know."

I'm from Mexico, from Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco.

Puerto Vallarta is beautiful.

It's a beach.

It's nice.

It's, I don't know, how do you turismo?

Turi- - Tourism.

- Tourism.

My family is big.

My father and my mom, they had 15 kids.

When I was in Puerto Vallarta, before I come here,

I always had fun with my friends.

I had a lot of friends.

And I loved to go to the beach, to go to the rivers,

to play volleyball, to play soccer,

and to be sitting my father in the potrero.

The potrero is the farm

that he had the cows, the horses.

I don't know how I say in English, ordenar?

To get the milk from the cow?

Cow?

Yeah.

I loved to do that with my father, yes.

When I was a child, before I come here,

it's the most happy that one person could have.

When I was a little girl, I think since I was born,

does not matter I was poor.

I was having my father.

I was having my mom, my sisters, my brothers.

I was very, very happy.

- Dominic was born in Germany 1982

in the same hospital I was born in,

and he grew up around my parents.

We lived in the same small town,

and he went to the German kindergarten

and he was loved by everybody.

He was just that little German chocolate sunshine.

When he turned 10, we moved to the United States.

Life on Waterfall Circle was idyllic almost.

You know, every race, every color was living there.

Dominic attended Vista Heights Middle School,

and then went on to Canyon Springs High School.

Dominic was just an all-American kid.

- In 2019, I have to fly to India.

We have to pick up some shots for "Finding Match,"

a film I'm directing on organ and bone marrow transplants

in ethnically diverse communities.

The trip is short, but I'm very excited.

I always jump at the opportunity to go to India,

the land of my ancestors,

where I get to re-embrace the spirituality

and mysticism of India, every time I visit.

But at heart, I'm a homebody,

a proud American, a patriotic citizen,

and a fervent Democrat.

I mention my political affiliation

because it's crucial to why this film got made.

I keep abreast of American politics

no matter what part of the world I'm in.

And tonight is the first Democratic debate.

And then comes a question

that is about to change my world view.

- Today, it broke our hearts.

And they had names, Oscar Martinez,

and his 23-month-old daughter, Valeria, died,

trying to cross the river to ask for asylum in this country.

- Watching that image of Oscar

and his daughter, Valeria, is heartbreaking.

It should also piss us all off.

If I were President today-

- Piss me off?

Yes, it does, immensely.

After all, we're a nation founded on immigration, right?

- Unless you're one of the first Americans,

a Native American, you came from someplace else.

Somebody brought you.

- I often use this byte from President Obama

as a short, precise way to define the American population.

Native Americans are indeed

the only true non-immigrant population in the United States.

And that's the beauty of America.

A matrix of all shades and backgrounds

living as one people.

My husband didn't see color

when we married over a quarter century ago.

Neither did I.

In fact, being in an inter-racial marriage,

my husband and I decided to retrace our roots.

One day, we would visit Scotland and Pakistan,

where our great-great grandparents came from.

It was amazing to visit his roots in Glasgow.

My great grandfather's home in Pakistan

is on the bucket list.

My point is, America's deeply rooted immigration

is part of the reason why many of us are so sympathetic

to today's current immigration crisis,

particularly that of the undocumented immigrant.

Many of us feel that it is hypocritical

and goes against our morals and values,

to deny help and safety to people who request asylum,

when our very own ancestors

sought the same refuge in America centuries ago.

Most of us wouldn't be here

had America closed its borders then,

so why should we close them now?

I'm even more shocked to learn that not just Valeria,

but hundreds of undocumented immigrant children,

have died in their attempt

to cross over the American border.

One of these little children who died on our border

last week is from India.

It just so happens that this little girl

belonged to the very area I'm visiting right now.

This little girl's name is Gurpreet.

- A seven-year-old girl died in the desert

west of Tuscon this week, as she and her sister

and three adult women entered the US illegally.

- As KGUN 9 On Your Side's Craig Smith reports,

this child came from the country of India.

- Agents say most immigrants

come from Central America,

but they do see immigrants from India,

Africa, and other parts of the world,

and they usually connect-

- Further research teaches me

that Gurpreet's family is from Punjab, in India,

where my family's from.

But unlike me, they went to America to seek asylum.

Because I have lived outside of India

for the majority of my life,

I am clueless about the circumstances

that would cause Gurpreet's family to seek asylum.

Her parents indicated they wanted a safer,

better life for Gurpreet.

I know there are parts of India that are very poor.

We know religious persecution exists

in many parts of the world.

But how bad does poverty or persecution have to be

for a mother to take her child on such a dangerous trek

just to seek refuge?

Since I'm right here, I decide to find out.

Maybe as a filmmaker, I'm brought here by the universe

to share this child's story.

And so begins my search for this little girl's legacy.

Who died this week on US-Mexico border.

- One thing that always amazes me

is that he enlisted knowing he was gonna go to war,

because we were in the midst of it, you know?

- I was in a social studies class.

A building was smoking.

I had no idea what happened.

And they're sitting here talking about a plane

flying into the building, into the Twin Towers.

I say by the end of the day on September 11th,

I felt pretty enraged.

And then I went to bootcamp in June of 2006.

And then I turned 18 August of 2006.

And then I turned 19 in Iraq.

Camp Fallujah is a very big base.

When I was in Iraq, hell yeah, I was scared.

I turned 19 in,

it was Al Taqaddum Air Force Base in Iraq.

On that day,

I went to the chow hall three times.

I watched somebody try and put an entire can

of Copenhagen in their mouth.

He ended up throwing up.

That was pretty much the highlight of my 19th birthday.

Birthday cakes are overrated,

you know what I mean.

- I remember when I was 10,

I loved to go to the theater.

My sister and I, every Saturday, theater.

And I loved to dance.

My family, they don't have money to give me to study.

And I wanna study.

That's why I came to the United States, to study.

I'm from Mexico.

Another people that I know

is from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras.

And the border, for everybody, is the same.

We had to jump to United States.

- I'm a legal immigrant.

Took me six years.

This little urn contains the ashes of my son.

I carry him with me all the time.

Dominic and I, we used to ride our motorcycles,

and I had a real bad crash,

and he was crying and telling me

that that was his worst nightmare.

And we talked about death, and he said,

"Well, what do you want?

You wanna be buried or you wanna have ashes?"

And I said, "I don't know yet."

And he told me, he said, "Well, let's have ashes of you.

I can put them in a little hamster ball

and have them in the car with me all the time.

And I'm not stuck to a city with a graveyard.

I can move anywhere and take you with me."

And I never thought it would be reversed,

and it would be his ashes I have with me.

When my son, my German chocolate,

graduated from high school, he had big dreams.

He wanted to work in law enforcement.

And he joined the 911 dispatch center, became a dispatcher,

and he was studying to become a motorcycle cop.

And then also studying to become a helicopter pilot

for the sheriff's department.

Who would have known that my son,

with all his big dreams, just 12 years later,

down the street from his high school on Pigeon Pass,

would lose his life in such a cruel manner

and his dreams would be cut short forever?

- I met one woman and she told me,

"Come, let's go to Mexicali."

I never think that I wanna start a nightmare.

- Good morning, ma'am.

- Ms. Gujral,

you may want to try Shailee Dogra.

She's the Hindustan Times journalist

who covers these cases.

- We got your message regarding Gurpreet.

I'm so sorry, but I cannot give you more information.

- I manage to contact the HT journalist,

who agrees to meet with me the following morning.

Hindustan Times is one of India's top dailies

with a reported circulation of almost a million copies.

This appears to be a good start to Gurpreet's story.

But before I go any further, please let me clarify.

This film is neither Democrat nor Republican,

so if you're looking for a right or left film,

you might as well quit watching right now.

I have voted for both parties in the past,

but what this film has taught me

is the lines between liberalism and conservatism

often blur in the face of stark realities and bitter truths.

As the journalist details her article,

what I hear shakes me to my core.

It leads me to many corners of the world

in search of the truth.

And the truth is hard to swallow.

- If you go to any market,

the first thing that your eye catches

is the large hoardings that promise you to go abroad,

and offer you consultancy in helping you settle abroad,

so even if you don't have some documents.

There are about 700 which are operating

in Wahali district only.

In that, about 300 were registered.

There are a number of complaints from the applicants

who say that they had paid to a consultancy firm,

but they are not returning back.

Neither they have arranged for the visa

which they had promised.

Most of them don't even know what kind of work

they will be doing there.

They are promised something else,

and it is only when they reach the foreign shores,

that is when they realize

that they have ended up in a mess.

- The interview is an eye-opener

with regards to the exploitation

that pervades the chain of illegal immigration.

The HT reporter does not know

the whereabouts of Gurpreet's family.

But she does refers me to another renowned journalist

from The Indian Express,

who's an expert on illegal immigration.

The Indian Express

is one of India's oldest and top newspapers.

As I google her work,

the very first article I find is this piece,

which highlights the stories of many other children,

who also died on the US border, while crossing.

As I wait to make contact with this journalist,

I hear back from one of my local scouts.

He has found me the contact

for one of these perished children's father.

Okay, great, thanks.

So, I decide to make a trip to go meet with him.

We agree to go over the on-camera questions

while I'm driving to his town.

But on my way there,

I drive past one poor neighborhood after another.

I decide to take some detours to visit these neighborhoods.

I want to see if I can document

the extent of human suffering,

to where people are willing to risk their lives,

to seek refuge elsewhere.

And I'm devastated with what I see.

The living conditions here are reminiscent

of the poverty only portrayed in Hollywood movies.

In fact, some of the local kids

remind me of the cute little boy

from the movie, "Slumdog Millionaire."

I'm also hoping that somewhere along the way,

someone can lead me to Gurpreet's family.

I'm in the Doaba region, an area with the largest number

of undocumented immigrants

who have sought asylum in the West.

Oddly, it doesn't appear that America is a subject

of conversations in these neighborhoods.

It seems that most of them don't really know much

about America at all, let alone wanting to go there.

One particular neighborhood impacts me profoundly.

There's a little girl playing

on the other side of the tracks.

I imagine Gurpreet as that little girl,

but forced to give up her childhood and her life,

just so her family can survive.

Back on the road, I call the gentleman I'm interviewing

so we can go over the topics we will discuss on-camera.

But oddly, when I ask him if it was poverty or persecution

or violence that led to his child

making this horrendous journey,

there is silence on the other end of the line.

Then, just like that, the line disconnects.

I keep trying, but no one picks up.

Shortly thereafter, I get a strange text

from an attorney on behalf of the father.

Why would he decide to go to Europe

in my middle of a conversation?

Okay, maybe the attorney doesn't want him to talk to me.

But why wouldn't he just say that?

And then, a disturbing thought occurs to me.

What if someone else doesn't want him to talk to me?

But since I'm already on my way,

I decide I'll go talk to the family's neighbors.

As my crew and I approach the family's home,

I'm even more confused.

For privacy purposes,

I will not show the exact neighborhood.

But there is no way this is the home

I was invited to to interview the family at.

- Iraq was very hot.

And when we got to Kuwait, it was 125 degrees at 6:00 a.m.

And at that moment I was like, oh shit.

What have I done?

How am I supposed to wear all this gear?

And it's gonna get even hotter if it's only 6:00 a.m.

- My husband deployed

to one of the most dangerous places in the world,

so that as a country,

we wouldn't have to worry about our own safety.

And one of my biggest priorities now

has become safety and not getting murdered,

or raped, or robbed, in this supposedly free country.

- So, when my dad passed away on August 1st of 2008,

I took a little bit of time for them

to get me a plane ticket, get me home,

and I got home, I think, August 3rd.

August 5th was when we had the visitation.

That was my 20th birthday.

Fun three birthdays there for me.

- Here you go.

Just kinda went downhill from there,

and I got addicted to pain medication.

Not something I ever expected.

Honestly, I had wanted to be in the DEA.

At the time, I actually had an application pending at the VA

to be a VA police officer.

- Jonathan said he wanted to get married on Independence Day

and then the fireworks started that night.

I've experienced a few flashbacks with him.

This, by far, was the most intense.

For some reason, he didn't recognize me.

He thought he was back, I guess, in Iraq,

and for some reason thought that I was some stranger

trying to imprison him.

It just got worse and worse.

And it's anxiety from your PTSD.

- Shortly thereafter, I got a text from Jonathan

to help him look for a job.

"Will push brooms, clean toilets, whatever else," he said.

"We just desperately need an opportunity to move forward."

- I was thinking there was the coyote.

The coyote is people that we help us to come here.

But it wasn't.

It was a cartel,

that they call Cartel Gulfo de Mexico.

They kidnapped us.

Kidnapping.

Kidnapped us.

So, they rape, they abuse the girls,

just for a plate of food.

Don't do that.

Don't do that anymore.

We women, we teenagers, we children.

They keep me for a month,

and they forced me to pay every day

1,500 pesos Mexicanos

to be there in that town.

Because I know they will not kill me,

I walked for 10 hours.

They told me that I'm gonna walk three hours

and they lied to me.

We was aching and we walking for 10 hours,

in the desert, no water, nothing.

One of the people,

they don't walk, they don't wanna walk anymore.

They left him in the desert.

And I just went, God, please help me.

And thank God, I'm not thirsty.

But they sell me with somebody else.

And they say, "I'm gonna have you in my car,

and you guys gonna pay me."

And I said okay.

But they lied to me.

They sell with another guy.

And the other guy put us in the trunk

and they put the key and locked.

And when we wanna pass one border, the dogs.

The dogs smelled us.

Immigration stopped them, thank God.

I can breathe.

- Now, there's a spot across the street

where illegal aliens hang out

to get picked up for cheap labor.

On July 12th, 2012,

my husband, Anthony, and I had just arrived in Atlanta

on a red-eye flight from California.

We went to a Waffle House and had breakfast.

And as we were going to the car,

I felt like somebody unplugged me.

I dropped to the ground, almost passed out.

- Dominic Durden was riding his motorcycle

on Pigeon Pass Road in Moreno Valley.

He was on his way to work

as a Riverside County Sheriff's Dispatcher.

A vehicle being driven by an illegal alien

turned left in front of him.

And he was thrown from his motorcycle,

and killed on impact.

- And I dialed his number, and nobody picked up.

And then I called his work,

where the supervisor of Dominic informed us

that Dominic was killed that morning,

at the exact time where I passed out

in front of the Waffle House.

There were two Marines that were behind him

in their cars going to work.

He stopped, he ran over.

When I asked him, I said, "Did he know you were there?"

He said, "No, he wasn't alive anymore.

I just talked to him and covered him with my jacket."

He had just turned 30 years old.

- This story begins to take a life of its own

once I meet with the Indian Express journalist.

- I have been covering

this illegal immigration issue since long.

Gurpreet's case is a freak case,

which has brought into light

so many other such cases happened in the past.

Human trafficking problem.

We have a huge network of unscrupulous travel agents.

So such agents can be me, can be you,

can be a shopkeeper, can be a retired cop.

Then, these sub-agents, they have their contacts

in different countries.

Maybe in Central America, North African countries,

or Mexico, USA.

This is a chain, right?

- Agents, coyotes, smugglers.

Different names, same work.

- So, he will ask you pay me half amount or 40% amount,

or sometimes, 60% amount, in advance.

They take some tourist visa, maybe of Brazil,

Ecuador, Bahamas, any country

from where they can smuggle them into the USA.

After landing in Brazil, they will take you by a bus

or by truck to some nearby country,

and from there they will start donkeying.

Donkeys are there for finding safer entry points

to nearby countries.

The Strait of Panama, then they are going to Costa Rica,

from there Nicaragua, from there they are going to Mexico.

- Regardless of which border town they end up in,

the access to cross over is plentiful.

Vast open spaces of American soil beckon.

Although the new wall is under construction,

the old wall randomly turns into a guardrail

followed by miles of completely open border.

Here they seek asylum.

- Go , go, go, go, go.

Go, go, go.

All right, all right, all right, all right.

Bye, amigo.

- Bye. - Bye.

But are these really the tired, the poor,

the huddled masses yearning to breathe free?

- It is not poverty

which is driving them to go to foreign countries.

- The average payment to a coyote for one person

to illegally immigrate to the US

based on how far the coyotes have to take them

and the mode of transportation goes something like this.

- "And you guys gonna pay me $12,000," and I said, "Okay."

- Close to $50,000 they spend,

and they will earn that in two years.

- So where are the people that are claiming

to really be poor getting the thousands of dollars

to pay the coyotes?

- I decide to find out for myself

if the truly impoverished are who we are helping,

when they come to our borders,

even if it's for economic purposes.

Just like most other the world,

there seem to be six basic levels

of socio-economic status in India.

The super rich, the rich, the upper middle class,

the middle class, the low income, and the poor.

- Somebody from a poor state

cannot afford to go there.

Secondly, they don't have that money.

- Arvind Singh works as a gardener.

Nanni and Ramvati work in different homes as house cleaners.

Dharmender works as a housekeeper.

All three belong to the lower income class in India,

one step up from the truly impoverished.

- They're all struggling to make ends meet,

but still appear happy and optimistic.

When asked if money was not an issue,

would they want to make the trek to the West

so they could earn more money?

- If the low income don't have the money

to pay the coyotes, the really impoverished surely do not.

The poor of these countries can't even afford three meals

a day, leave alone hefty agent fees

to coyotes and smugglers.

They don't have the kind of money to immigrate anywhere,

legally or illegally.

So, who are these asylum seekers then?

Why would someone who can afford to pay thousands of dollars

to coyotes risk their own and their family's lives

just to work illegally in America?

- The dollar dreams.

- It turns out, the coyotes sell a warped image

of America to potential victims.

Apparently, there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow

and the rainbow ends on American soil.

- And just because they have a huge amount to spend.

- Posh cars.

- People in America are rich.

- Rich.

- America is a developed country

so people in America is rich.

- Hunger's a bitch.

After a while, you'll start to lose your mind over it.

- Hunger is something

you really kind of have no choice but to get used to.

You get used to having scraps here and there,

and surviving off of it, but it's-

- Used to it?

- In a sense that you become numb to it.

You have to get to the drop-in centers or the shelters

by, what, 7:00 a.m., get in line.

And if you're not there by 9:00 a.m.,

you're screwed for anything for the day.

The first thing we get up and think is,

gotta get the tent down,

because we're not supposed to have our tent up

during the day.

- Imagine getting in a car and driving as far as you can go

until you run out of gas.

And wherever you run out of gas,

that's where you're resting for the night.

We just walk until we can't walk anymore.

- A lot of times, we don't even put the tent up

because we're too tired.

We just sleep right there.

When we first came out here,

they literally told us that if Jonathan didn't have a wife

that he could get help.

There's a building here with a transitional shelter

for homeless veterans.

They can stay there for what, three months,

while they get housing placement.

- Something like that.

They have a drop-in center, so to speak,

where I can do laundry, I can take showers.

You know, hang out and watch TV throughout the day.

Grab food.

And the first time I went in there I asked them,

"If I took a shower, could she take a shower too?"

And they said, "No."

- So many people say,

"oh, thank you for your service,"

or we wanna honor the veterans."

- Veterans get health care.

That's nice, it's appreciated.

You've got military disability,

that can help, but depending on where you're living,

that's not really enough either.

I don't know how many charities we've contacted

and veteran's resources that said we're not qualified

for assistance or they don't have the funds.

We're in the wrong area code,

or we're in the wrong zip code,

or we're in the wrong county.

And it's just excuse after excuse.

I have met many other homeless veterans.

It saddens me, yes.

- We got Army, Navy, Air force, Marines out here.

- Our troops that are still fighting right now,

because someday those troops will be veterans.

Someday those troops will face the same issues

that I faced when I came home, which is PTSD.

And not understanding PTSD,

I didn't even think PTSD existed, honestly.

Because I think we've become very,

absolutely too comfortable with this,

you know, with homeless people on the sidewalk.

- Why do you think our politicians

are not on the sidewalk right now talking to you,

understanding your issues and doing something about it?

- Bourgeoisie and arrogant!

They bourgeoisie and arrogant and don't have no respect!

- Well, Dominic was more than just an accident victim,

he was a real pillar of the community.

He'd been an EMT, volunteer of the year in the city

doing cable shows, he wanted to be a Sheriff's pilot.

I mean, he was someone who was a young man

who was going to make a great impact in the community

for many years.

And then we learned that the person who caused the collision

was an illegal alien from Guatemala

who had been deported at least once or twice.

He had previous DUI convictions,

and so we had the situation where a great pillar

of the community was killed by a man

who should not have been in the country.

- And one of Dominic's friends, a motorcycle cop,

he was on his way to work, he got a call on his radio,

"Fatality on Pigeon Pass."

He went to the accident scene,

and when he arrived, he saw Dominic's motorcycle.

He recognized it,

and he recognized Dominic laying there, all mangled.

- It's like we were in a room full of light,

and all of a sudden, you know,

someone turned off the lights.

There were no lights coming in from the windows.

It was just dark.

- I'd just lost my son, and we went to the courthouse

to get some kind of justice for what just had happened,

and then the judge asked the defendant

if he had anything to say to the mother of his victim.

And he placed his hands in a praying position,

and told the judge, "God gives life, God takes life.

I was only on my way to work."

I was so shocked.

I expected, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to kill him,

anything, any kind of remorse.

Nothing.

- I was in the court when he was eventually sentenced

to nine months in jail.

I can tell you, what sticks with me most from that day,

was that after Mr. Zoon did not take responsibility

for Dominic's death, Sabina had to be helped

out of the courtroom by her friends.

She was overwrought with grief, she could barely stand.

For the victims, justice was in no way served.

For Sabina, the only thing that would be just

would be for Dom, her only son, to come back.

I think a lot of people believe that the sentence

should have been much longer,

it certainly should've been the full nine months.

So, he was let out after about 35 days.

- When my father, he passed away in 2014.

I didn't went to Mexico.

I didn't saw my father for a long time, years.

Like 20, 25, 26 years.

And he write a letter for me, and he say, "Don't come,

because you don't have papers."

I remember Thanksgiving,

my sister and I, we don't have money to buy chicken.

Chicken, not even a turkey, chicken.

In my first job that I found here, at that time,

the government paid them the hour, $6.25,

and they paid me $1.50 a hour.

In our country, sometimes, we are very poor.

We come here to have a better life.

But when you're here, you realize it's not like that.

When I send $100, it's almost 2,000 pesos in Mexico.

So, it's a lot of money.

It's one of the thing that we still here.

- $1 equal to rupees 70.

- So, 70 times?

- 70 times.

If you works in the USA for 10 hours,

and he gets $10 per hour,

so after 10 hours he'll get $100.

And then he will multiply that $100 by 70,

that means he's earning 7,000 in a day.

- Even if a person goes abroad

and is working as a taxi driver,

when he comes back, he would set up a new house,

buy a new car.

- I know one person, I interviewed him once.

He spent 20 years in the USA.

He went illegally.

And for 20 years he could not come back to India,

because if he had come, then he could not have gone back.

So, he decided to live there.

His children, they were really small when he left,

and when he came back, they were grown up.

That man had come five years back.

And still he's living a good life,

because he said that he had earned so much

that he can live whole life very comfortably.

- That is why they want to go abroad at any cost.

This is dollar dreams which they are chasing.

- So, what they do, they come back,

they take huge plot, or they have the land also,

and they make big, big palatial houses.

- We keep the money to send to Mexico to our families.

For us here, maybe it's not a lot of money,

but for them, yes, it's a lot of money.

But the sad thing here is, we don't see them.

They pass away, they get sick,

they lost, and we never see them.

- The agents charge not only to transport them

to American borders, but also to handle their asylum plea

once they are on US soil.

- Already these agents, they have contacts with some lawyers

in USA, those who are taking such cases.

Maybe $2,000 or $3,000,

then that lawyer will take their case

with the American court.

Then the case goes on.

Sometimes they remain in jail,

sometimes they get permit to work there.

And sometimes they face deportation,

so after coming back, they again try.

- For people looking for a lifestyle upgrade,

undocumented immigration serves as a monetary investment.

The coyotes serve as their investment bankers.

A flawed, broken American immigration system,

their investment vehicle.

- Our exit visa system is non-existent.

After 9/11, in 2003, Congress held hearings,

and they were supposed to create a bi-metric visa system.

And here it is 2020 and they haven't even started.

Overstaying their tourist visa.

That's a big one and getting bigger.

And what about religious persecution?

- There is no danger to their lives at all.

While seeking political asylum in the USA,

they are still saying that there is persecution in India.

Which is not relevant in the current scenario.

- Although religious persecution

is an authentic problem in some parts of the world,

unfortunately some people use it as grounds to seek asylum

even if they're not being persecuted.

Some other loopholes appear even more bizarre.

- People also come into the country

either with a fake marriage

or sometimes they'll marry their sibling.

Then, of course, they separate.

And fake work and school visas

that allow them to take away jobs from Americans.

The Green Card Lottery System

that was meant to address diversity,

and is literally picking names out of a hat.

A thing called the U visa,

which allows somebody that's a victim of a crime

but here illegally to get a permanent visa and stay.

And a lot of those stories are made up.

Many of the people that are coming through

are creating fake families.

Because of the Flores Agreement,

which says children have to be released after 20 days,

they're renting children.

Once they get through with their fake family,

they know they're gonna be released.

It's basically catch and release.

Once they're released,

they may show up for some of their hearings.

Months later, they get a determination.

Well, 85 to 95% of the time that determination says

your asylum claim has been denied,

and please report on, you know, whatever the date is,

to be deported.

Well, 2% of them show up.

The rest of them disappear in the country,

never to be seen again.

- The volume of fake applications

mires an already stressed system.

- Our first son, Drew, was born in 1985,

and fast forward 25 years,

he's in San Francisco in law school.

And we get a call one night

that there's been a terrible accident

and to come to San Francisco right away.

Then he told me that our son was killed

in a traffic collision, that's all we knew.

The guy never even made an attempt to stop.

He was in the country illegally.

He accelerated and drove over his body.

My son's helmet, he was on a motorcycle,

had come off, and wedged under his rear tire.

So, he backed up, driving over him a second time.

And then trying to flee down the street

he went forward a third time.

His rear tire was on my son's abdomen

and five men had to lift the car off of him.

- I'm in shock.

I don't want to believe any of this is true.

So, I continue on to find Gurpreet's family,

hoping that her family's case for asylum

will be one of the authentic ones.

That I'll find some poverty or persecution there,

that makes sense as to why her young life was risked

when her family undertook that awful journey.

The journalist tells me that Gurpreet's village

is called Hasanpur.

She's also arranged for me to meet

with Gurpreet's grandfather.

Oh my God.

This movie should be called "The Quest for Hasanpur."

Hasanpur is nowhere near where Google Maps tells me it is.

I am so lost in the hinterland of India.

But I'm strong in my resolve.

I will not leave India without finding Gurpreet's truth.

And then I find the town I'm looking for.

The moment of truth is here.

I use a previously published article to validate

that this is indeed Gurpreet's grandfather.

- Apparently, just like Gurpreet's family,

the majority of asylum cases are purely a function

of economic upgrade, which in and of itself, is not a crime.

But when you risk your children's lives

purely for material benefit, then it becomes unacceptable.

As Americans, that's what should piss us off.

My heart breaks for this family,

and for the countless other families, who've been destroyed.

All because people risk lives, so they can go to America

to make more money or avail free benefits.

Lured by the lucrative promises of American messaging,

some who can't afford smuggler payments

even take out loans to pay for the trek.

In the bargain, they mortgage themselves to the hilt.

After all, they are told that once they're in America,

just two years of work

will allow them to pay back their entire loan.

Then, they and their families can live happily ever after.

- Raise your hand if your government plan

would provide coverage for undocumented immigrants.

Okay.

- So here, a coyote is showing this clip

to undecided immigrants to convince them that paying $50,000

per person is worth it to have free health care in America

for the rest of their lives.

The danger is down played.

After all, they see is the video

of the easy five-minute walk from Mexico to America.

What do they have to lose?

What they're not told is that they stand to lose everything

if they get deported.

Or worse, die at the border while crossing.

On this day alone, the coyote gets two takers.

Free health care in America?

Who wouldn't want that, right?

Everyone.

Including the Americans who've been left behind.

- We have a massive homeless problem.

We have a massive poverty problem,

particularly in the black American community.

Many of the Latinos who have come here legally,

they're getting pushed aside

because the illegal alien will work for less.

We have a lot of people in this country

that are really suffering.

Single moms, couple of children.

They could be working two or three jobs.

But it's just not enough to make ends meet.

Then some of their taxes are going to pay

for not only people who are here illegally,

but probably their illegality is lowering the wages

that this woman could get

if they weren't here and there wasn't a crunch for jobs.

- It's a permanent sense of loss that cannot ever be fixed.

- Grief means not having my best friend,

play a prank on me like he used to, make me laugh, hug me,

call me with exciting news.

Grief means that life as it was

the moment before he got killed is over.

And grief follows me everywhere.

And grief means that you become the biggest actress or actor

once you lose your child because you can't talk about this,

or share this constantly, or cry all the time,

like I feel like at times.

On that morning, two lives were taken,

Dominic's life and mine.

- If they have a criminal record,

the only way you can come in is to come in illegally.

- Some people say, "Wait until they commit a serious crime,"

but others point out that illegal immigrants

are by definition law breakers.

- Before sending them into US territory,

they take their passports and everything.

And they will put a simple letter in their pocket.

"Please give us political asylum, our life is in danger."

- Once those people are in the country, they create new IDs.

But it's so easy to get a driver's license using a fake ID

that now you have a driver's license.

So, you now have a government document

that says who you are when you're not.

If we get to the day where everybody's legalized

and we're giving these people a pathway to citizenship,

now they're basically here permanently, and protected.

- The scouts helping me in India

tell me this one guy who murdered three people.

Since he had the money,

he paid coyotes to help him cross the border into Texas.

His old identity died on the Mexico-Texas border.

Even with multiple warrants against him, he can't be found.

He gave a fake name and fake story,

was allowed into the United States.

Ultimately his asylum was denied,

but he never showed up for deportation.

It's now been seven years.

I'm told, this murderer now drives a cab in California.

- One of the issues of the southern border is terrorism.

Especially if you're a terrorist

you're gonna take the path of least resistance.

Then they're gonna come in,

just walking across where it's easy for them to do that.

And we know that 'cause we've caught people doing that.

The amount of drugs coming across the southern border

is massive and we see it certainly in the opioid crisis

that we have now.

- At one point I was doing 15 Percocet 30s a day.

Heroin took its place.

So, then I was doing heroin.

Then coke's available.

And now the big thing is meth.

I went to jail for, like, five or six times.

- Oh, we don't need a physical barrier

because 90% of the drugs come through points of entry.

The truth is that 90% of the drugs

that are seized are seized at points of entry.

- The same day. - The same day.

- We're half a mile from the US-Mexico border.

- We have no idea what's coming across the border

that we never see.

- First it was the coyote,

and later the cartel.

The cartel in Gulfo.

And now I have fear of ICE.

I'm living in the shadows.

If someone does something to me or my car or something,

I can't go to the police.

- A lot of crime against people that are here illegally,

because people figure they're not gonna report it.

A woman named Veronica Cabrera Ramirez.

She lived up in Northern California.

Her boyfriend was illegal

and she reported him for domestic violence.

Well, they arrested him.

Because he had been previously deported,

ICE got a hit and said we want him, we'll deport him.

The Sonoma County sheriff let him go.

Sanctuary policy.

Two weeks later, he murdered Veronica.

Now the irony of that story is you have all the wokeness

saying you have to let every person who's a victim

of domestic violence in these countries into the US.

Well, what the hell good is it if you let them into the US

and then somebody commits domestic violence here

and you won't deport them?

- We know children are dying, but we don't know who they are

because the coyote's not gonna report them,

and the family may report them missing,

which they do sometimes, and oftentimes their body is found

in the desert as skeletal remains,

because they've been there sometimes for years.

That journey is extremely dangerous.

Numbers have been thrown around that 1/3 of the women

that come on the journey

are sexually assaulted on their way.

What's happening to a child that sees something like that?

And then the irony is that when they get here

all of the sudden if we put them in a detention facility

for a couple of days, we hear,

oh, you've destroyed this child,

they're now gonna be afraid for the rest of their lives.

They just spent three months

in what's horror every single day.

They're concerned where they came from,

and they're concerned where they end up,

but they don't give a damn what happened to them

in the middle.

- It wasn't always like that.

The Bracero Program, a guest worker program

which was initiated in 1942 and ended in 1965,

allowed Mexican farmworkers to work in the US

with decent living conditions such as sanitation,

adequate shelter and food, and a guaranteed minimum wage.

But in 1965, it was discontinued.

Suppose instead of halting the Bracero Program,

Congress had expanded it to include the world,

but with safeguards.

First, Americans would get priority for American jobs.

Second, if unable to fulfill job openings,

employers could bring guest workers

but had to match the wages and working conditions

afforded to Americans.

It would remove the incentive for American employers

to hire illegal immigrants, simply to get cheaper labor.

But it would still give employers the opportunity

to have a full work force,

if Americans were unable to fill in the open jobs.

I look for other countries today

that might have similar immigration policies

to the Bracero Program.

The United Arab Emirates is a flourishing, developed nation.

Dubai, a prominent city in the UAE,

is a beautiful fusion of ancient culture and modern luxury.

The majority of the workforce that has built Dubai

are almost exclusively immigrant guest workers.

As employers are unable to fill certain jobs

with Emirati citizens

because of the limited local population.

On the other hand, people from all around the world

are willing to work in Dubai due to the high exchange rate.

So, Dubai welcomes immigrant workers

from other countries on legal guest programs.

- So my company is being my sponsor,

but bringing me on the basis of work visa.

1,000 Rupees, Indian money,

Only 1,000 Rupees.

But here, we will get around 30,000 Rupees.

Like they can make home, build their family good,

make their children study well.

They'll get more money from here.

- I think that Dubai, in this context,

they're doing an amazing job.

That's the reason maybe they're the business hub

of the world.

- I like my country so much.

I will go back, Surely, I will go back,

after getting some more money.

Now after 10 or 15 years later,

I will go back to my country.

- This wealth goes back

into the worker's home nation and not only helps the worker

with better economic upgrades when they return,

but also benefits their countries directly.

Countries that could certainly use a hand.

It is estimated

that approximately eight million foreign nationals

live and work legally in the UAE.

It is estimated

that approximately 10 million foreign nationals

live and work illegally in the USA.

Imagine if like the UAE,

the United States was willing to let these 10 million

or more illegal immigrants come through legally,

on guest worker programs, without risking their own

or their family's lives to cross the border.

Imagine if we could document these workers,

not only to run criminal records,

but also to let them come here, work and live with dignity.

Where they would not be afraid

to report a crime against them.

Where they could have a job that pays a fair, livable wage.

Where the American worker would get first priority

to fill any jobs in America.

Where if any jobs are left unfulfilled by American workers,

the guest workers could help the US economy

while still investing in and retiring

in their home countries, all without partaking

in any of the welfare or retirement benefits

so desperately needed for American citizens.

One of the problems that's often cited with foreign aid

is that the money never makes it past the corruption chains

of local politicians.

Here, the people invest in their communities directly,

and bypass any corruption.

We can take care of our own first

and still get to help those around the world

that need it most.

With no lives risked through illegal immigration.

Sounds like a win-win to me.

- The United States is running concentration camps

on our southern border.

And that is exactly what they are.

They are concentration camps.

- Politicians like AOC, trashing the border patrol,

and likened it to concentration camps.

I'm also Jewish, but to call them concentration camps

is an insult to all the people that died

in concentration camps or were there at all.

- Haven't seen any politicians.

Haven't seen any politicians.

I've seen reporters out here,

I've seen very few liaisons out here.

You can either disgrace your veterans,

or you can honor your veterans.

- Yes!

- I want our politicians to understand

that when our troops who support the very freedom

that gets abused everyday so radically

in ways that is mind-blowing,

I want our politicians to recognize

that this is what is crippling and destroying freedom

and liberty in America today.

- We have sacrificed our lives,

we have sacrificed our blood,

we have sacrificed our families.

- What is your message to politicians

in the 2020 election?

- Get their head out their bottoms.

- We're fed a narrative that makes a compassionate person,

which we are, I think we're a very compassionate country,

it misplaces the compassion.

It's certainly okay to feel for people

that live in poor situations, violent situations,

and I think as a people we want to help them.

The reality of it is, there's probably two billion people

in the world that fit into that category

and we can't bring them all here.

- Who knows compassion

better than the Dalai Lama?

Not politically correct compassion, but real compassion.

Because of the COVID-19 circumstances,

I can't interview him in person.

But I do find an interview with him on this subject.

- European countries should take these refugees

and give them education and training,

and then aiming is return to their own land.

- And if these people want to stay in Europe,

shouldn't they be allowed to?

- Limited number okay.

But whole Europe eventually become Muslim country,

impossible, or African country, also impossible.

- There's nothing wrong with that, is there?

I mean you're a refugee yourself.

- They themselves I think better to their own land.

- Have we taken the easy route

of misplaced compassion, instead of doing the hard work

to actually determine how and who we hurt

rather than help by not enforcing our immigration laws?

And have we let Americans down in the bargain?

And if so, why?

- One of the things that's beneficial to politicians

with illegal immigration, besides the money which they get

from the federal government, is legislative positions.

All the states that have big illegal alien populations,

the way the law works,

they get counted and represented by Congress.

If California didn't have any illegal aliens here,

those seats would go elsewhere.

Plus, the funding, whether it's extra school funding

or crime funding,

a lot of it's based on pure numbers of people,

doesn't matter what their status is.

The public would be outraged if they knew the truth.

- The irresponsible messaging

does not end with the politicians.

Some of our media is as much to blame.

For example, CNN covered Gurpreet's story

two days after I did.

The CNN article clearly states that Gurpreet's father

is seeking asylum in America,

but they failed to report on the visible lack

of asylum circumstances.

Why wouldn't the reporter have reported that?

It makes America look like the culprit,

while fully ignoring the perpetrators, the coyotes,

who are the real ones to blame.

- I still have nightmares.

I still have sometimes depression.

I still have anxious.

And I still have insomnia.

Sometimes I wake up if I hear a little noise

or I hear the helicopter or something.

I just wake up.

- Every night I sit and I look up at the sky,

and I talk to my son.

That day, Dominic turned into a star.

And Dominic, my baby, became engraved on this rock.

- Pat Tillman was a professional football player

and after September 11th happened,

he makes millions of dollars,

he decided that he was going anyway.

And on his deployment, he was killed.

It was a time when this country needed-

- Some heroes. - Needed some heroes.

And he answered that call.

I love the country.

I do. I love it.

I think the United States of America

has let the veterans down.

It would be nice if people thought about it for a minute,

what life would be like had people not laid down

the ultimate sacrifice and given up their lives,

so that people could have these freedoms.

- The Bible is the one thing I can always go to.

It's really one of the few things

that keeps me from losing my shit,

for lack of a better word.

- Countless Americans have died

at the protection of America and what it stands for.

One of our greatest freedoms that we fought for,

and that we have, is that of free speech

and the ability to tell the truth.

But in today's world of cancel culture,

it's hard to call out the truth.

I almost didn't make this film,

because my friends, my industry colleagues, even my family,

all rallied against the final message of this film

just because it did not align with their world view.

But what this film has taught me

is that sticking to a message that endangers lives,

intentionally or not, is not being a humanitarian.

It doesn't matter if the journey begins in India,

Central America, Africa, or another part of the world,

the stories are the same, only the faces change.

What this film has also taught me

is that ignoring the constant abuse

of America's noble asylum policies

does far more harm than good.

And that lumping illegal immigration

with America's generous immigration principles

is the dishonor of the word immigrant.

- I want people to know and understand

that legal immigration is okay.

It's what America needs, every country needs immigration.

- But if I'm going to call out the truth,

then I must acknowledge

that one can be against illegal immigration

and still be immigration supportive and immigration proud.

The two are not the same.

- When I came to the United States,

I was a registered democrat.

- I registered as a democrat when I was 18,

and I still am 50 years later.

I'm still a democrat, I still consider myself a liberal.

- Although this film hasn't swayed me

from leaving the Democratic party,

we as moderate democrats have a lot of work to do.

- Had the person who was here illegally

not have been here illegally

he would not have killed Dominic on that day.

- I hear a lot about people saying

it was just an accident,

he could've been killed by an American,

and I agree, he could have, but he was not.

He was killed by somebody that was not supposed to be here,

wasn't allowed to be here.

- And whoever is responsible for illegals being here,

are kind of responsible for all of the damage

and all of the harm and all of the hurt,

the destruction that is caused by just them being here.

- Several pieces of legislation

introduced in 2020 by Democrats,

some by women of color like me, has stunned me

and thrown my support for the Democratic party in a spiral.

Not only do I think these irresponsible messages

dangle more carrots in front of unsuspecting victims,

but proposals like The New Way Forward Act

basically ask for a radical change

to our immigration policy.

A change that would protect

criminal immigrants from deportation.

My first thought, another bait the smugglers can use

to snare in more victims.

My next thought, the cries of those who will become victims

of the unintended consequences of this messaging.

- I was thinking that to come to America

is gonna be very easy, very happy, very comfortable.

And it wasn't like that.

I think I was gonna have a lot of clothes,

I'm gonna have a lot of food,

I'm going to Disneyland.

I've never went to Disneyland.

- Everything that I hear over there in Mexico

that I'm gonna have here, it's a lie.

- This irresponsible messaging has to stop.

- What if this was your child?

Think about it.

- We're so worried about other countries' problems,

and we don't even focus on our own.

- Jonathan is still looking for a job.

But politics appears to trump poverty

in this election cycle.

Joe Biden now calls the Obama era deportations

a "big mistake."

Mr. Biden, who voted in favor

of the Secure Fence Act of 2006, is now for open borders.

And Joe Biden credits the people coming on H1B visas

to have built this country.

Mr. Biden, America was built by the blood

and sweat of Americans.

African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans,

Caucasian Americans, and the many others, but all American.

They need employment first.

So, now you've got illegal immigrants

taking up blue-collar jobs for cheaper.

And H1B visa holders

taking up white-collar jobs for cheaper.

I understand that a corporation's goal is profit,

so cheaper labor helps corporations.

I get that.

But, in the meantime, what are the American kids to do?

America is not for sale.

If this is where the Democratic party is in 2020,

I will not vote for Joe Biden.

And if we don't start putting Americans first,

the Democratic party will lose more moderates like me.

So, in the America of the 21st century,

we must be willing to ask,

how do we define the tired, the poor, the huddled masses?

Who do we take in?

Because there are billions who qualify,

but those who need help most

don't even appear to even make it to our borders.

They remain on the other side of the tracks.

Nobody wins, except the coyotes, the corporations,

and possibly, the politicians.

As I traveled through the last part of Mexico

to get to the Lukeville border patrol check point,

I reflected on the innocence of this little child,

who didn't know what was in store for her,

less than an hour later.

As I walked through the spot

where six-year-old Gurpreet's body was found,

it all came together for me.

Gurpreet, Dominic, Jonathan, Maria, they were all victims

of America's utterly broken immigration system.

As of last contact, Jonathan is still looking for a job.

He has recently been to the Mexican border

to seek cheaper drugs.

This very border still traffics many other Marias

to their nightmare.

American and foreign nationals still die every month,

either at the hands of someone

who has illegally crossed this border

or under the harsh conditions of this border

while trying to cross illegally.

Gurpreet's legacy is that we think through

what appears to be good intentions

and consider the potential ramifications

of our misplaced compassion.

Gurpreet's legacy is that we consider America's impoverished

along with the rest of the world

and make smart, non-partisan political choices.

Gurpreet's legacy is that we remember to put out messaging

that does not forget who we hurt while we try to help.