What is it like to live undocumented? Five Lessons from “Living Undocumented”

Awa, whose father is at risk for deportation, said, “You can watch a documentary and you can say, ‘Well this is too bad.’ But at the end of the day, it’s just something that you’re watching on TV, and you can turn that off, and you can go about your life.”

In October 2019, Netflix released the “Living Undocumented” series. Over the course of six episodes, directors Selena Gomez, Aaron Saidman and Anna Chai followed the lives of eight undocumented families living in the United States. The families participated at their own risk in the hopes that sharing their personal stories would move people to create change.

“Living Undocumented” was intended to highlight the reality of living as an undocumented immigrant in this country and to provide background information on the policies that have shaped the immigration experience. The directors hope that viewers will not simply turn off the series and move on; they want to move people to create change.

In an article from The Guardian, director Saidman said, “This is meant to be a human interest story where you can get a sense of what these people are really going through.” Saidman also expressed his hope that this series would help viewers to see undocumented immigrants as people and not statistics.

So what is it like to live as an undocumented immigrant? Here are the five lessons I took away from the series.

Harsh immigration policies have had bipartisan support over the last several decades.

Although the rhetoric surrounding immigration in recent years has become more virulent, policies that are tough on immigration trace back many years.

In 1997, President Clinton introduced the Permanent Bar. This meant that anyone who left the United States and tried to re-enter after having been present unlawfully for more than one year was barred from lawful admission. Immigration attorney Patricia M. Corrales referred to this policy as the “black kiss of death,” because people often enter the country without being aware of this policy, and by then, it is too late.

In 2012, President Obama created DACA, which protected people who were brought into the United States as children, but did not provide a pathway to citizenship. In President Obama’s November 2014 Address to the Nation on Immigration, he noted that deportations of criminals had gone up 80 percent in the prior six years. But he said, “We’re going to keep focusing enforcement resources on actual threats to our security. Felons, not families.”

Under the Trump Administration, the Zero Tolerance policy no longer solely targets criminals; it calls for the deportation of all undocumented people living in the country. The “Living Undocumented” series features Alejandra Suarez, who fled Mexico at a young age after receiving violent threats. She lived undocumented in the United States and became a military wife and mother of two. Even still, she faced deportation in the series. She said, “The past administration didn’t fix my problems; but the past administration didn’t deport people like me.”

Although it may seem easy to cast blame on the current administration, it is important to look into the prior administrations’ approaches to immigration. Tough policies have been enacted across the board.

“Why don’t people do it the right way?”

There is a point when Corrales poses the question: “Why don’t people do it the right way?” This is a common argument for supporting tough policies regarding undocumented persons. But Corrales goes on to explain that one cannot simply show up at the border and ask to enter; a person has to be petitioned and have a lawful reason to enter the country.

Immigration reporter Leslie Berestein Rojas went on to explain that even if you have a sponsor, there is still a long wait. For someone coming from a high-demand country such as Mexico, for example, that wait can be upwards of 20 years. Rojas reminded viewers that people do not always have that much time to wait; they may be fleeing extreme violence or poverty.

Rojas also brought up the point that in recent years, there has been a boom in families seeking asylum from violence and extortion in Central America (Luis, Kenia, “Miguel” and “Maria” are examples of this in the series). But even those seeking asylum face long waits, as there is a backlog of pending cases in the court system. When the series was released, Rojas said that there were roughly 800,000 pending cases, and that the average wait time to get in front of a judge was two years.

This is where the series reveals the human perspective of illegally entering the country. Those featured in the six episodes express the urgency of their situations and their feelings of desperation to protect their lives. They all share a desire to “do things legally” and “follow the rules,” but they find themselves blocked from the opportunity to do so under the current system.

Undocumented people can have a positive impact on the country.

The eight families who share their stories in this series are hardworking people who are involved in their communities. Ron, an undocumented man who fled with his wife and kids from violence in Israel, is the co-owner of a business. His business partner said, “That’s the poster boy for who we want to immigrate here… People to better the economy and better society.” Ron pays taxes and has created jobs. Ron explained that he cannot understand why the government would not want to take advantage of all that he could offer to the country if given legal status.

Members of the Dunoyer family express similar sentiments. Sons Pablo and Camilo are great students who volunteer, play sports, attend church, and have ambitions to study engineering. Parents Consuelo and Roberto work long hours and have been able to purchase a beautiful home. They fled Colombia after receiving death threats from guerrillas (they continue to receive these threats). The Dunoyers tried to enter the country legally, but their asylum case was rejected. They could not return safely to Colombia, so they lived for a number of years under the protection of a private bill passed by their congressman. In the series, however, they are now facing deportation. They continue to pray that a path will be opened for them to stay.

There are several ways to be deported.

The series includes the story of a man named Vinny. At one point, his wife Sedalia mentioned the concept of “self-deportation.” After hearing that, I decided to do some research on the different types of deportation. I found a great podcast episode that explained it from Immigration Nerds, entitled “The Deportation Machine: America’s Long History of Expelling Immigrants,” featuring Adam Goodman.

Goodman presents three types of deportations that have been used: formal deportation, voluntary departure and self-deportation. He says that formal deportations are what people traditionally think of; an immigration judge issues an order and there is little chance to fight the case. “Voluntary departure” is a misleading term. Goodman says that in this case, after being apprehended, those who enter illegally are pressured into signing a document in which they agree to forfeit the ability to fight their case and “volunteer” to leave the country. He said this practice exists because enforcement does not have the resources to detain people or hold hearings for everyone. Finally, self-deportation (mentioned by Sedalia) is where immigrants are made to feel so miserable (due to policies or fear tactics) that they decide to “pick up and leave without ever coming into contact with immigration officials,” says Goodman.  

All human beings, including those labeled “illegal,” share the same basic desires.

The goal of this series is to increase empathy and understanding for the human beings behind the “illegal” label given to them. All eight families share the desire to be with their loved ones and to live free of fear.

The individuals in these episodes want to be with their loved ones. “Miguel” and “Maria” wait to be reunited with their niece, from whom they were separated at the border. Ron wishes he could leave the country to visit his dying mother. Ron’s wife, Karen, wants so badly to visit her home in Israel that she takes a tour of familiar streets via Google Maps. Vinny hopes to be around to watch his baby daughter take her first steps. Amadou Sow’s children long to hug their father. The common thread is that people, regardless of their legal status, yearn to be surrounded by the ones they love.

These individuals also wish to live a life free of fear. Bar, Ron’s daughter, broke down in tears in one episode and said, “I always have to do everything scared. Even the smallest thing can ruin my entire life.” She went on to say, “We’re here for the betterment of our family, and to live a more stable and safe life. We were never here to do something bad to anyone.” Similarly, Pablo and Camilo Dunoyer expressed their anxiety regarding their uncertain futures. Luis shared about living in fear that his girlfriend, Kenia, was in danger after being sent back to Honduras. The list goes on with the rest of the stories. All people have a basic desire to feel secure and safe.

To learn more about immigration, read Grace’s article on misconceptions about immigration.