I'm a I'm a video producer and video journalist to ProPubli and I've covered immigration both in the U.S., Central Ameri and Mexico for almost a decade n My name is the Literally So I'm a reporter with the ProP Texas Tribune Investigative Init I've been covering immigratio and border issues for more than in different parts of the U.S. a the world together.

And I had started looking into w what was anticipated to happen once Title 42.

The public health order expired and we wanted to really know what was the impact of those po what could happen in the course We were also following the afte of a deadly fire in Ciudad Juare that killed, you know, resulted in the deaths of 40 mi and more than two dozen injured.

And in the course of that report we came across the family that's profile and that we focused on in the fi We met the parents actually outs of a migration detention center while they were camping out.

And and one the father and the d had kind of become unofficial sp for the very that camp.

And we had like a brief conversa The first time we met them.

And they were just they were just very magnetic, ve very captivating subjects.

And they had a very compelling s And and I think that's basically like draws to them.

There is this recurring conversation here in the U.S. about like having migrant come over, quote unquote, the ri And the reality is that the right wa is very difficult to navigate.

It implies a lot of obstacles th if you just say it on paper and it doesn't come across.

And I think that's a little bi what we wanted to explore with t We wanted to see reall like what life was like for peop who were trying to do everything by the books and trying to follow the letter and how difficult it was to navigate that system, navigat that sort of their language and navigate a syste that's not culturally friendly t And I'll just add, you know, to for your viewers and the famili going through this, using this m Right.

That the what we're trying to sh is, is the use of this mobile app called CBP one.

And some of the victims of the f have been precisely trying to do that when they wer by Mexican immigration officials And when we reach out to the to the White House and administr for comment, you know, the the response is that.

But this is a kind of a reminde people need to be coming the rig They're using the legal pathways And I think with with this film, you really get to se that the CBP one app is still in That is still the primary way t are being asked to enter the U.S to ask for asylum.

And you can see the challenge that even after the tragedy of t you still see the challenges th like the parents are going throu I was actually born into this.

I was raised in El Paso.

And I think it's so hard for people outside the border region to have a fuller understa of what's going on.

Right.

And what that looks like.

And and there's so much informa out there that a lot gets lost in covering the border for more than ten years.

You know, I do think there's th a continuous need to bring infor to audiences within the borde and particularly outside the bor and bring understanding and not to tell people what to or how to think, but actually pr the information that hopefully them to make more informed decis And I do think that's always our motivation.

Right.

And bringing about better under about a topic that is so much on of people's minds and voters mi right now as we head into the el And so the more that we ca help, you know, be people's eyes and explain the complexities of going on beyond the headlines, I that's a big part of our life, o right now.

Also, under Trump, for the firs asylum seekers who are required Mexico have their claims were b processed and later using the pa Many, regardless of their natio were immediately expelled to Mex basically leaving them stranded in citie where we're prepared to handle t Whether it's like the fire in Ju as a result of that lack of infrastructure and logistics for to be able to receiv the amount of people who do end I wanted to understand the lon term effects on the people who w and who were forced to navigate these changes and for the most part weren't ev they were happening.

Well, I hope the film serves as a window for people who, as was mentioning, who aren't from region to really understan what's going on on the ground.

These are people who have travel a whole continent in search of a and they're running up to these that just trap them in border ci I think one of the thing that that accomplishes through t film is also to show that the i doesn't begin or end at the bord I mean, it starts in people's co sometimes thousands of miles away, like t and folk who travel from Venezue And then we chronicle like Hidalgo chronicles their their journey beyond the beyond El Paso.

Right?

They cross El Paso.

They go through this months of living on the streets in Mexico, traversing Mexico and then they finally get the ap And that's not the en by any means of their journey.

Right.

So I think what would hea out of the capture really well and that I think, should be part broader discourse around immigration is that the border where it begins or ends and wher we're talking about solution and policy decisions that lawmak the communities need to be part of tha you need to be thinking beyond t Cities like El Paso in Juare and come up with solutions that the actual issues that we see i case from New York to Denver, Sa Garcia I mean, it is really, I think, a really good way to to remind people of of of how w to think about this more holisti and not just zero in on the bord as we tend to do.

I'll just start by say this this I think I was working on the pr for Juarez and serving as a supp but I'll let the full credit go this is just his his support tea back up with the little kid I would take it like it's all hi Like, I disagree with that.

But thank you.

And I, I mean, working with people and mobility is extremely complex.

It it it's one of the things I w like while I'm thinking of this is just that like even though capturing their experience, our priority for them, communicating what their plans a and the plans that are constantl changing is definitely not their And I feel one of th like one of the biggest challeng we had would be like we would we would have a hard time just like learnin what the updates of their life w I would be in constant contact w But then suddenly like from one day to the other, it would be like Oh, we're going to move cities.

Or Oh, we got the appointment.

So there was a lot of like not that much planning and just a lot of like just hus to get stuff done at the last mo Fortunately, like the team at Pr the support at ProPublica is am and also just being able to disc over with like Perla and some o editors for this piece is invalu And I feel that's lik mostly where the team teamwork c The majority of scenes of Ana during protest are actually archival footage.

That's one of the huge benefits we ended u having and choosing this family.

It just so happened that since the spokespeople for the campus and they have such a strong voi just by doing archival research, I was able to find a lot of stuf where, like various wire services have serendipitousl like followed them around for a and we were able to access that and use it for the film.

But I think one of the main thin with documentary filmmaking is just like a const and open channels of communicati And I feel that as long as we a about what we're doing with subj we're constantly checking up on their comfor for being filmed and stuff like There were constant moments in where where stuff would happen and you could definitely like see the family's discomfort.

While we were while we were shoo And it would just like take a mo and take a breather like 5 minutes and just be like okay, do you want to just like, Or should we stop for a half an and just talk stuff over and kin discuss what they're going thro and just make sure they're still Because I feel just like constan consent is key when you're working on long ter projects with subjects like this I think for me at least, it's ki be up to date with the news but also don't let it overwhelm Like there' a lot of punditry in this countr and like basicall I feel there's a bit of a loop where journalists fall into the like talking points and politica And I think just like checking y and reminding yourself why you're doing what you're doi and talking to people and really understandi what are the motives, the reasons why people are leavi their home countries and understanding the situation and portraying it accurately.

Like I feel there's also this te over to digest people's stories for an American audienc which I think we all have to do.

But at the end of the day, like also very important to stay as t as possible to a person's stor and to the reasons why they're c and their value system.

I think for for me, for for peo wanting to report more on border immigration, either whether that or print or narratives, I think one is to really inform educate yourself on the subject.

Great.

It is a complex subject, As Heraldo mentioned, there's a lot of opinions out t so I think the best is to really educate yourself as much as poss talk to people from from differe with different points of view or different sides of the issu to just really educate yourself.

And if your work in story that is very centered on on the peopl remembering that these are very vulnerable people in the power that Gerardo mentioned earlier and just, you know, rememberin to be human, like they don't hav their stories with us.

We as a lot of people, when we d kind of reporting, it can feel i it can feel destructive.

And so then the more you can jus to be human and empathetic and remember that they'r in a very precarious situation and really understanding why you want to do the story and why it's important to do the I think goes a long way in helping the perso that you're doing the interview Remember why you're doing it?

Because it is.

We do we do ask a lot of peopl when when we do this kind of rep and we have to keep checking ou that we're doing it for the righ The family is still in Denver.

They're still tryin to get their north in the city.

They from what I understand the girls were able to sign up t but I haven't heard any updates on the work situation or like their asylum claims from The Carol and I are still workin together.

We're working on another project focusing student in Texas and the issues of the elections and border immigration.

But more broadly, ProPublica as this year is is focusing on on the immigration and the impa not only on the people who are c but also the communities that a receiving communities from diffe want to be in different parts of the country.

If you can That's something to know, though We're kind of exploring this here in ProPublica.

Why and how immigration has beco an issue during these elections and als the implications it has both on arriving and people in communiti receiving immigrants.