In the Shadow of the Law
February 9, 1988
by Mike Pearson
The border is an imaginary line, but it casts a very real shadow.
Hope haunts the faces of those along the Mexican side of the US border.
Faces young and old. Frightened and proud. Faces that reveal a subliminal battle between
desperation and determination.
This is the world "In the Shadow of the Law" takes us
through. It is a journey sympathetic to the plight of thousands of illegal aliens who,
having trespassed across the Rio Grande, are determined to remain in the United States.
Produced by Paul Espinosa for KPBS-TV in San Diego, the hour-long
documentary will air nation-wide Wednesday on PBS stations, including KCOS, Channel 13/12
in El Paso at 9 p.m.
It's not a depressing program, or even particularly alarming. But it is
effective especially in terms of humanizing the lives of undocumented residents.
"This program is basically intended to provide a human portrait of
life for undocumented people," Espinosa said in a recent phone conversation. "We
wanted to break down some of the stereotypes that Americans have about who these people
are. In general, the media slant has been headline-oriented. There's been a lot of
attention to this population as being criminals or on welfare or something that paints
them in a negative way."
"As a result, most people in the public either don't have contact
with undocumented people, or they have contact without knowing the people are
undocumented. They just don't understand the difficulty these people have remaining in
this country.
"The Shadow of the Law" was one of 15 locally produced
programs funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 1986. Espinosa and company
spent 12 months and $170,000 piecing the documentary together, including pre-interviews
with 25 undocumented families in Southern California from which the four stories showcased
were culled.
Initially the program was to deal exclusivley with long-term
undocumented residents. But with the passage of the Immigration Reform Bill and Control
Act of 1986, the scope was broadened
Among those chronicled: the foreman at an avocado ranch and his family;
a single mother with a paralyzed child; and a family that resembles any other prospering
suburban clan except only the children were born in the America -- the parents are here
illegally.
The new immigration law is especially tough on single women, Espinosa
said.
"The legalization program is working adversely against women in
the sense that single mothers have a lesser chance of being legalized," he observed.
"The other problem is one of split families. When part of a family qualifies for
citizenship and the rest don't, what does that family do?"
These and other issues are addressed in a program that doesn't pretend
to have all the answers. But it does raise questions that are seemingly long overdue about
undocumented residents.