The Door Back to Mexico

Available for over a year

The BBC’s Valeria Perasso is on the US border, exploring the journey that Mexican deportees take as they pass through a set of metal doors in the security fence at San Ysidro, California back to their home country. Prior to their removal from America, there is usually a period of temporary detention and Valeria has obtained access inside the Otay detention Centre. As the deportees are led through the doors, which are opened several times a day by officials, they consider their past lives in terms of what they are leaving behind and their future, which is uncertain. In the year that President Obama prioritises comprehensive immigration reform and as the number of deportations under his presidency reaches record levels, Assignment discovers the changing profile of a typical deportee – those who may have lived in the US for decades and are determined to keep trying to cross back. This programme is part of the Freedom2014 season and follows people who have been living in the shadows as undocumented immigrants in the US and joins them on their reluctant return to Mexico and a freedom they often do not want. Producer: Nina Robinson Picture: The back of a metal door, in Mexico, Credit: BBC