At the Movies: The Deportation of Innocence

Trump is the president elect of the United States. During his campaign he vowed to build a wall between the U.S/Mexico border and create a deportation force to deport 11 million undocumented people. If he goes through with his promises, what will it mean for the millions of U.S. citizens children who have undocumented parents? 

The Deportation of Innocence takes us on a journey into the experiences of four U.S.-born children and their immigrant families as they come to terms with deportation and the long-lasting effects this has had on their lives. For the children, this can mean growing up with an absentee parent, moving to a foreign country, being placed in foster care and in the most dire cases, being put up for adoption. This film takes us deep into the struggle of these American children as they are caught in the political crossfire between two nations.

The documentary highlights the issue with testimonies from scholars, lawyers, social workers, and priests in the U.S. and Mexico who have firsthand knowledge and unique insight into family separation and the challenges of reunification

The film is particularly useful in courses that examine current U.S. immigration patterns and policy and traces the construction of the legal system that facilitates the deportation of non-citizens with U.S.-born children. It is an essential part of any curriculum that seeks to fully understand the current state of immigration in the United States.

We have screened the documentary at various colleges and universities including UCLA, UCSD, Cal State LA and Columbia University and professors have found it particularly useful as an educational tool.

If you are interested in obtaining the documentary you can:

1. Purchase a DVD with Public Performance Rights by clicking here.

or

2. Watch on Kanopy Educational Streaming by clicking here.

You can also visit our website to watch the trailer and learn more about our documentary by clicking here.

Directed by: Francisco Alarcon

Running time: 48 minutes

Language: English/Spanish

Subtitles: English 

Year: 2016

Reviews:

“A poignant and powerful documentary film,The Deportation of Innocence tells the stories of Mexican immigrant families who have been separated and displaced due to the U.S.’s broken immigration policies. Filmed in New York City, Southern California and Tijuana, the ground-breaking film gives voice to those most impacted and least heard in the public debates over the so-called immigration crisis: Latino parents and their children.”

-Alejandra Marchevsky, Ph.D. Professor Department of Liberal Studies Program in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies California State University, Los Angeles

“The documentary, The Deportation of Innocence, directed by Francisco Alarcon, draws from the collective knowledge of experts, practitioners, and advocates in the field of immigration, to offer a poignant and powerful account of the often forgotten and misrepresented faces of undocumented and mixed-status families in the U.S. These experts collectively narrate the devastating toll that deportation has on children who witness their parents’ deportation or who they themselves, are uprooted from everything they call ‘home’ and forced to relocate to a country they know little about.”

Cynthia Bejarano, Ph.D.Regents ProfessorCollege of Arts and Sciences Stan Fulton Endowed ChairDepartment of Interdisciplinary Studies/Women’s StudiesPrincipal Investigator, College Assistance Migrant ProgramNew Mexico State University.