When night falls in El Alberto, Mexico, the hills around the town come to life. As ‘coyotes’ lead nervous immigrants along secret pathways, border patrol agents sweep through with flashlights, their shouts ringing out across the hills. Although it lies hundreds of miles from the US-Mexico border, the town acts out illegal border-crossings every night, calling their one-of-a-kind tourist attraction ‘La Caminata’ (or ‘the journey’). By showing tourists – mostly middle-class Mexicans – some of the many dangers of illegal border-crossing, the people of this town seek to deter others from leaving their homeland.
Far from the US border, a Mexican town acts out nightly illegal border-crossings
Director and Producer: Jamie Meltzer
7 May 2014
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