Al Jazeera America Presents "Borderland": A new original series in which average Americans are confronted with the realities of illegal immigration while retracing the footsteps of dead border runners.
Six Americans are tasked by a frontier medical examiner with retracing the footsteps of three dead migrants — three of the nearly 6,000 illegal immigrants who perished in the desert in the last 15 years while crossing from Mexico. Gathered at the morgue, the participants are handed three case files and told, “We’ve given them a name. You must give them a story.” The six, from all walks of life, first explore the issue on the U.S. side, embedding with law enforcement and Arizona ranchers angry at the cartels that now control not just the drug trade but the migrant routes as well. Then, split into three groups, they head for Mexico and Central America, learning about the lives of the migrants they’ve been asked to follow. In a twist, the medical examiner instructs the six to work their way back to the United States alongside real migrants by whatever means necessary … on river rafts, on foot through gang-controlled jungle and, once regrouped, on top the infamous cargo train known as La Bestia. Finally, from cartel-held Sinaloa state, they attempt the journeys that proved fatal to their assigned migrants — a dangerous trek through the hot badlands. They’ll live. But will they learn?
Episode 1
Premiered Sunday April 13th at 9E/6P
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Six Americans – strangers from all walks of life – gather to embark on a haunting journey that begins in the Pima County morgue’s dead-body freezer.
Episode 2
Premieres Sunday April 20th at 9E/6P
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The six are split into three groups, each tasked with retracing one dead migrant’s past, and discover the grave circumstances that led “their” migrants to risk their lives.
Episode 3
Premieres Sunday April 27th at 9E/6P
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Things get real in gang controlled Arriaga, when the six climb atop a cargo train known as “La Bestia,” or “The Beast.”
Episode 4
Premieres Sunday May 4th at 9E/6P
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It’s the final leg of their perilous journey and the six must face sweltering heat during the day and nights that drop below zero – how long can they last?
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