Editor’s Note: The pseudonym Michael is being used at the request of the source. The Chronicle’s editorial policy grants anonymity to sources who fear retribution for being quoted.
Michael is a typical U student.
Those who either see him walking about the campus, sitting in a class, or even shopping at the grocery store don’t realize that Michael has a secret-he is the child of an undocumented worker. He illegally crossed the Mexican-American border at age 5 and, like an estimated 65,000 other undocumented immigrants in Utah, has had to live and work in the shadows of legality.
Michael said he dreams of being an attorney some day. He is currently a junior at the U, majoring in communication.
Michael is also the inspiration behind Sen. Orrin Hatch’s Dream Act, which is a piece of federal legislation that provides in-state tuition to the sons and daughters of undocumented immigrants.
A Utah family close to Hatch adopted Michael.
For nearly a year, Michael has worked extensively with KUED as a production assistant, editor and research assistant to produce the upcoming documentary, “Shadow of Hope,” which will be released at the end of the month. The film presents an account of the issues surrounding illegal immigration and hopes to bring the subject to the foreground of the national agenda.
The film depicts the challenges faced by undocumented immigrants from Mexico entering the United States.
Michael was one of five applicants for the job, four of whom were undocumented immigrants.
“The movie tries to break down the complexities of why people are coming,” he said. “People are not coming necessarily for the American dream-people are being pushed to come. It is not ‘I am going to go there for a better life.’ [It is] ‘I have to go there, I will not have anything to eat.’ It becomes survival,” he said.
The immigration dilemma is one that extends beyond the boundaries of Utah, though. In 2003, 7 million people, or 2.5 percent of the total U.S. population, were undocumented immigrants according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“50,000 new faces will line up at the border every night,” said Ken Verdoia, producer of the documentary. “This is the most challenging domestic issue ever presented to the American people since the end of World War II. In terms of our national image and sense of purpose, it is as vexing as the battle over civil rights in the 1950s and 1960s.”
The border-crossing stories the filmmakers heard producing the film ranged from poignant to outright shocking.
“While [the immigrants] would talk about the way they were treated, invariably they would cry. They would say, ‘Understand that I have to be here. Understand that I am not here to drive a fast car…or to live in one of your big homes. I am here to feed my children.’ That rings true in everyone we interviewed,” Verdoia said.
Beyond the troubles of acquiring health care, undocumented immigrants have few educational opportunities afforded to them, and fewer advocates fighting on their behalf.
“Politicians treat immigration like the third rail,” Verdoia said.
The third rail is synonymous with commuter train systems in most urban cities, which give trains electricity, but could electrocute an individual. The third rail powers the system, but is not something that you want to touch.
A local showing of “Shadows of Hope” will air on Nov. 30 at 8 p.m. on KUED.
“This program is not some weepy entreaty to look at another slice of poverty that only the liberal 10 percent of Utah would be drawn to. This is a program that tries to be extremely even-handed, that tries to say…we’re all in this together,” Verdoia said.