The US-Mexico border is more than a geographic boundary. It’s a system—one that thrives on surveillance, detention, and human suffering. In Borderland: The Line Within, filmmakers Pamela Yates and Paco De Onis reveal the inner workings of the border industrial complex: a vast network of private contractors, government agencies, and corporate profiteers that has transformed immigration enforcement into a lucrative industry.
On the heels of recent ICE detentions in Kingston—where federal agents arrested a man at a job site and questioned another outside his home—the film’s arrival in the Hudson Valley could not be more timely. Amnesty Mid-Hudson’s 11th Annual Human Rights Film and Panel Screening at the Rosendale Theater on March 8 brings this urgent documentary to local audiences, offering both a deep dive into the business of borders and a platform for resistance.
The Border is Everywhere
Yates and De Onis, longtime human rights filmmakers behind The Reckoning and 500 Years, describe the border as an expansive, ever-present force. “It doesn’t just run along the US-Mexico line,” they explain. “It’s in detention centers from California to New York, in biometric databases, in the contracts awarded to security firms, in the raids that happen in our own communities.”
The film takes viewers beyond the political slogans and into the mechanics of a system that has grown exponentially since 9/11. Border security has become a multi-billion-dollar enterprise, with defense contractors like Raytheon and General Dynamics pivoting from war zones to immigration enforcement. From high-tech surveillance towers in the Sonoran Desert to private detention facilities raking in government contracts, Borderland: The Line Within exposes how corporate interests drive policy—and how those policies shatter lives.
Stories of Survival and Defiance
While Borderland lays bare the forces fueling the border industry, it is also a testament to resilience. The film centers the stories of those fighting back—immigrants who refuse to be dehumanized, activists risking everything to protect asylum seekers, and communities creating alternatives to the system.
One such story is that of Roxsana Hernandez, a Honduran trans woman who died in ICE custody after being denied medical care. Her case became a rallying cry for immigrant and LGBTQ+ rights advocates, highlighting the deadly consequences of a system that sees certain bodies as disposable.
The film also follows members of the Mesoamerican Migrant Movement, who help families search for missing loved ones—victims of cartel violence, border patrol brutality, and the treacherous journey itself. “This isn’t just about policy,” says Yates. “This is about life and death.”
The Economics of Border Enforcement
One of Borderland’s most revealing insights is how deeply embedded the border economy has become in the fabric of American business. The Department of Homeland Security spends more on immigration enforcement than all other federal law enforcement agencies combined. That money flows into contracts with private prison companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group, which operate many of the country’s immigrant detention facilities. These corporations lobby for harsher immigration laws because every new detainee boosts their bottom line.
Then there’s the tech sector. Companies like Palantir provide ICE with data-mining tools to track, detain, and deport immigrants. Facial recognition software and predictive analytics—once developed for counterterrorism—are now used to monitor migrant communities in places like the Hudson Valley. “The border industrial complex doesn’t just create physical walls,” says De Onis. “It creates digital ones, financial ones, psychological ones.”
A Conversation That Can’t Wait
Following the screening, Yates and De Onis will join a panel discussion to explore the film’s themes and their implications for communities like Kingston. As ICE activity escalates locally, the conversation is no longer abstract—it’s about real people, real families, real consequences.
The event also serves as a fundraiser and silent auction for the Ulster Immigrant Defense Network, which provides legal aid, housing support, and emergency assistance to immigrants facing deportation.
For Yates and De Onis, the goal is not just to expose the system but to inspire action. “We want audiences to leave not just with outrage, but with a sense of possibility,” says Yates. “There is another way forward. There are movements fighting for dignity, for justice, for a world without cages.”
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This article appears in March 2025.
