Unheard But Not Forgotten
Unheard But Not Forgotten Laila Al-Arian | Executive Producer, Al Jazeera English
It was a story that exploded all over social media in the summer of 2018, with reporters around the world covering. The Trump administration had separated thousands of children from their parents after they had arrived at the southern border of the US. It was part of the administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which closed the doors of the US to asylum seekers escaping violence. The Fault Lines team wanted to cover the story from beginning to end - and that meant starting from the countries that migrants were fleeing. The team travelled to Honduras and tracked down two fathers who had been separated from their children and deported back to the very place they had fled. We were the first journalists to speak to them about their experience at the US border. Finding parents who were separated and deported was very challenging at the beginning of the separation policy. Part of our goal in reporting from Honduras was also to highlight the conditions that are forcing people to flee to the US. The asylum seekers, who said they were pressured into signing documents in English that they did not understand, described the pain of being separated from their children. “It’s like a nightmare, and you don’t wake up,” said Elmer, whose 14-year-old daughter was held in a shelter in the US for nearly three months.
Our award-winning film – “No Shelter: Family Separation at the Border” - also examined other ways that the Trump administration made it harder for migrants to seek asylum, including stationing border agents in the middle of bridges connecting the US and Mexico. As our crew was reporting in early August 2018, they witnessed two teenage siblings from Guatemala being turned away on the bridge connecting Ciudad Juarez, Mexico with El Paso, Texas, as they tried to claim asylum. The pair was told there was no space for them. It was a short moment, a matter of a minute or less, and one that border agents did not want captured on camera. But that scene has been replayed hundreds of times since then at ports of entry between Mexico and the US. A half hour after they were turned away, the siblings tried again and, as border agents noticed our crew filming, they were allowed in. Fault Lines also investigated alleged coercive tactics by immigration officials. Parents being held in a detention centre in New Mexico spoke exclusively to our team, telling us that they were reunited with their children - only to be separated a few hours later by immigration officials.
They said they were detained again after they refused to sign a form that would have waived their children’s claim to asylum and led to their deportation. “They were pressuring us,” a father said from detention. We were honoured when the Overseas Press Club recognised our reporting and work by awarding us the Edward R. Murrow award, particularly for a story that was covered by every other major network. The judges noted that “with meticulous reporting and careful treatment, the documentary tracks every step of the process, detailing the confusion, cruelty and pain, without slipping into a tone of outrage or blame. Instead, viewers are drawn into the lives of real people faced with impossible choices as they try to flee violence.” Our team was fortunate to have the network’s support and resources to cover such a complex and important story, especially to be able to travel to Honduras and spend time with families there.
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