HOSTILE BORDER CALLS TRUMP’S BLUFF
What would happen if millions of Mexicans were forced to return to their country of origin, though they speak little or no Spanish? That’s the question soon posed in Hostile Border, directed by Michael Dwyer. Although entirely fictional, the film focuses on 22-year-old Claudia (played by Veronica Sixtos), who was brought illegally to the United States by her mother. During the foreclosure crisis, her mother is unable to make payments, so Claudia decides to do something illegal to get the cash to make a payment before foreclosure. But when Claudia is caught for credit card fraud by the Chicago police, they refer her to immigration authorities. An illegal alien who has committed a felony, she is deported and makes her way to the home of her father and grandmother, promising to return. Her father, Andrés (Julio Cesar Cedillo), owns a cattle ranch near the border. But one of his workers, Arturo (Jorge Jiménez), has ties with local smugglers, notably Ricky (Roberto Urbina), an American citizen who not only uses the ranch territory for his illegal business but also to forces sex upon Claudia. Derogatorily called a pocha (a term meaning over-ripe fruits or vegetables that are usually discarded), Claudia is plunged into the complexity of trying to survive in a corrupt law enforcement environment. When the film ends, the question originally posed has to be rephrased, “How many already deported are adding to the crime problem at the border?” Although deportations have increased to almost 400,000 per year, and violent crime has increased on the Mexican side during the same years, there is no sign of decrease on the American side of the border. MH