The complex stories of three migrants who died trying to cross the border into the U.S. led to a questioning of previously held beliefs as “Borderland” continued to challenge perceptions on Sunday.
In the second episode of the acclaimed docu-series, each of the six cast members was paired with a seemingly unlikely co-traveler and dispatched across Central America to retrace the steps of a doomed attempt to reach the U.S.
It opened in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, where staunch immigration opponent Randy and open-border advocate Alex were sent on a mission to figure out what drove Maira Zelaya to attempt the crossing.
Maira, they learned, was actually trying to return to the United States when she died. Having lived with her family in Iowa, she and her brother Elmer were both deported after immigration officials raided their home to find that the pair could not produce the paperwork necessary to remain in the country.
Elmer, now working in Usulután, El Salvador, as a taxi driver, explained to Randy and Alex the reasons Maira wanted to leave so badly as the pair rode in the back seat of his cab.
Elmer spoke of the violent crime that his sister had hoped to escape. Alex and Randy were soon confronted with the realities of what he meant; just as the two began the day, they came across the scene of a fresh murder.
The show’s narrator told us El Salvador has been deemed one of the most dangerous places on earth, with anywhere from 10 to 15 murders recorded in the country each day.
Extreme violence and poverty is a theme that is common among all three of the migrants’ stories.
“This country is crazy man,” Elmer said. “If you have a problem with somebody, they kill them. Twenty-five dollars, they kill them. They kill people every day.”
Elmer took the duo to meet the family friend who accompanied Maira on her journey across the border and ultimately made sure her body was not left in the desert. After hearing the harrowing and emotional story of their crossing, Alex and Randy reflected on it.
Given Alex’s position on immigration, his being moved by the tale came as little surprise. The more unexpected change was an indication from Randy that he may be open to softening his stance on immigration.
“I don’t think that I’m ready to change what my opinion is on the issue,” Randy said. “But how can I not be affected by it? I just wouldn’t be a human being if I wasn’t affected by it. But we certainly have to have a humane change to this system that we call our immigration policy.”
Meanwhile, Kishana and Lis-Marie found themselves in the southern Mexican city of Tapachula, where the pair examined the conditions that drove Claudeth to leave her home and try to make it to the United States.
Claudeth left Mexico out of desperation in search of a better life, not for herself but for her family. As Kishana took in the extreme poverty in Tapachula and connected with the close-knit relationships of Claudeth’s family over dinner, she began to re-examine her perspective.
“It seems like she made this journey out of Mexico not even thinking about herself,” Kishana reflected. “It was heart-wrenching.”
But perhaps the most challenging story of the second episode was that of Omar, the 13-year-old migrant who died in the care of an elderly woman as they made the dangerous trip across the border.
Allison and Gary went to El Porvenir, Guatemala, where they visited and worked in coffee-bean fields where Omar once toiled. The little money Omar made he gave to his mother. Average pay for the agricultural workers there is $4 a day for men and $3 a day for women, based on how many pounds they can pick.
Between the two of them, Allison and Gary pulled in $5.
“It’s hard to imagine getting up every day, climbing these hills and picking these coffee beans,” Allison said. “I can definitely understand why people would want to get out of here and go somewhere to find a better way of life.”
Listening to Omar’s story completely changed Allison’s opinion that undocumented immigrants should be deported. And after meeting dozens of children willing to leave Guatemala and make the perilous trip, as well as Omar’s grandfather and family friend Orlita — who says she will also attempt the journey despite her mother’s death on the crossing — Gary seemed to experience a shift of his own.
“The part about meeting Orlita that really pissed me off is that no matter how I tried to warn her, she’s bound and determined to do it, and not only is she bound and determined to put herself at risk, she’s also bound and determined to put her son at risk and take her son with her,” Gary said.
“It’s just like this this déjà vu moment that she didn’t learn anything from past history — losing her mother, and then losing Omar at the same time.”
After completing the assignment to “give them a voice,” the teams said goodbye to the migrants’ families and prepared to go back home. But there’s one major twist — they will be going back “migrant style.”
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