There are usually many sides to a story. The documentary “All We Carry” presents one side focusing on the suffering of thousands of migrants streaming towards the United States border somehow believing they are by rights entitled to entry and a life in the United States. Magdiel, Mirna and their child Joshua are self-described Evangelical Christians travelling on train and bus from the Honduras to (hopefully) Texas. Receiving “advice” it is easier to claim asylum in the United States for married couples they participate in a quickie group wedding at the border with other couples building a “winning resumé” to enter the United States with. Hundreds of Caravan migrants chant and sing at the United States Mexican border about their plight including insisting the United States has the capacity to take migrants as after all they say they are not criminals or terrorists!
Magdiel and Mirna’s story is gang harassment and murder in the Honduras affecting their families. If they can establish this gang violence against their families successfully in the United States judicial system it will be a Willy Wonka golden ticket to being recognized as a valid asylum ground for entry into the United States. After a short period of detention in San Diego, Mirna and Joshua are released and make the trip to Seattle where Mirna’s sister is living. Magdiel follows some three months later. An asylum hearing is scheduled some two years later! A progressive synagogue in Seattle has a family with a spare house that the Hondurans can stay in. It is a huge house on the ocean. The synagogue members have a migrant history themselves with parents and grandparents emigrating to the United States “legally”. Magdiel works at spare time jobs for synagogue members.
Mirna is so stressed by her brutalized past she enters therapy. Is Mirna building her resumé? Mirna then becomes pregnant and gives birth to a daughter? More resumé building? Joshua attends a local school.
After two years of being held in limbo due to the massive amount of asylum cases in the United States judicial system Magdiel, Mirna and their two children are granted asylum by United States meaning in one year they can apply for permanent residency then in four years for citizenship.
A fairy tale story? How many will join the Caravan “inspired” by Magdiel and Mirna? As to whether these Hondurans were “playing the system” we will never know and neither do the filmmakers raise that possibility.
A good documentary can trigger discussion about asylum seeking in the United States. One may view the asylum process as subject to “gaming” by dishonest economic migrants. Another side may see the “right” to economic migrant admission in the United States. I prefer to see the process as determined by the legal system as overrun as it may be. All those seeking entry into a country must have a legal right to do so.
I have been in a migrant destination in Greece and saw the local health system crippled by the migrants. And almost all the migrants were young men in their twenties pining for entry into Germany. And the local population having their livings jeopardized by an aversion of tourists to visiting the destination worsened by the generous EU allowances paid to migrants.
On my last trip to New York City watching the local news there were cuts made to education, library hours and the police necessary to divert funds to migrant servicing including 22 hotels required to house migrants costing New York City billions of dollars.
As for my home city of Toronto a huge surge of migrants is taxing the housing supply and social services. Does a country have a right to control entry into it? Of course! Can the immigration system be gamed? Of course! How many migrants are gaming the system? Unknown but do not presume honesty. Desperation can breed ingenuity.
I suspect there will be discussion about this documentary. Americans are entitled to be concerned about migrants in caravans demanding entry into the United States as a matter of right.
The documentary will be showing at Fletcher Hall in Durham, North Carolina on 5April2024 as part of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. After that showing I have no details. It has previously played at film festivals.
RKS 2024 Film Rating: 78/100.
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