‘Immigration Nation’ Takes Viewers Inside of Heart-Aching ICE Operations

By N. Jamiyla Chisholm Aug 04, 2020

Anyone who continues to doubt that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s methods of operations are inhumane should watch Netflix’s new six-part documentary series "Immigration Nation," which debuted yesterday (August 3).

Filmmakers Christina Clusiau and Shaul Schwarz take viewers behind-the-wires and inside immigrant families’ homes as they share their stories of trying to build lives in the United States, while not having them destroyed in the process by deportations. Clusiau and Schwarz were also availed “unprecedented access to ICE operations,” according to the doc’s website, in which the voices and perspectives of ICE agents are unfiltered, whether they’re complaining about wrecking families or standing their ground as enforcers—even illegally.

In the trailer alone, viewers can hear an ICE supervisor say over speakerphone to an agent, “I don’t care what you do, but bring in at least two people.” The Trump Administration even threatened to sue the filmmakers if they didn’t delay the release of the series until after the 2020 election, the New York Times reported. 

Check out the trailer below, courtesy of Netflix:

To better understand how cloak and dagger ICE operations really are, Time Magazine spoke with the filmmakers for an article published on August 3 in which they break down various parts of the series and the toll the system takes on people. “Being in detention, not knowing what’s going on on the outside, not having resources to fight your case from the inside—it wears you down,” Clusiau told Time.

Add with family separations, the horror is compounded. “A lot of these policies and these laws are inherently unfavorable or they are designed to be that way to install fear and to make people go more into the shadows,” Clusiau said. 

Stream the "Immigration Nation" series on Netflix.