Saw this as part of the Movies That Matter documentary festival 2024 in The Hague. Main theme is the cat and mouse game between smugglers and police officers, explaining the mechanisms rather than showing the very people crossing the border between Mexico and Texas. Conclusion is that the endless flow won't stop, regardless of increasing police effort.
In the beginning we saw a core event in the life of one of the agents: Some time ago, he met a man with wife and two children, obviously just after they passed the border. They had a plausible story about a family they knew and were about to meet. They even knew the name of the street where the family lived. So, he decided to let them go. He expressly said such could be done at that time. Freely translated: the general mood has changed since the immigrant count changed also.
We got several explanations about what border patrol must do (taking the immigrants) versus the job of the local police (taking the helpers, guides, chauffeurs, etc, in other words the smuggling infrastructure).
The officers involved get several opportunities to explain their jobs. There is even a former Mexican among them, considered a traitor by several people. He ignores that and sees his work as useful and legitimate, even for him acting against fellow country mates.
A philosophical explanation is provided too. When apprehending drug smugglers, you take the drugs, destroys it and the contraband disappears. When apprehending immigrants, they are sent back to Mexico, only to cross the border again sooner or later. Apprehending smugglers and their helpers won't help either, given that smugglers are replaced very soon by new blood. While the "goods", the infrastructure and the revenue model remain, an unavoidable endless cycle results.
The film title was explained in the end: The area we are looking at, was part of Mexico once, but it became part of USA later. So, the "illegals" are now trying to enter an area that was Mexican ground some time ago. In other words (paraphrased) they are not crossing the border, but the border crossed them.
All in all, the mechanisms showed and the inability to stop its endless cycle, leaves many depressing afterthoughts. Economic reasons create an unstoppable push why people want to leave their own country, with phantasies about the promised land they hope to find somewhere in the USA.
