Border Incident
- PASSED
- Year:
- 1949
- 94 min
- 322 Views
Here is the All-American Canal.
It runs through the desert for miles
along the California-Mexico border.
A monument to the vision of man,
the canal is the life-giving artery of water...
...that feeds the vast farm empire
of the Imperial Valley of Southern California.
Out of this desert wasteland, man's industry
has made a flourishing garden.
Farming in Imperial Valley
is a great industry.
Here, a single field of prosaic carrots
or lettuce or flax or melons...
...may be worth a half million dollars.
This great agricultural empire is important
Nature never waits.
When the crops are ready,
they must be harvested.
This means manpower...
...a vast army of farm workers
who must be available when needed.
And this army of workers comes from
our neighbor to the south, from Mexico.
For the Imperial Valley of California...
...like many other farm areas
of the great Southwest...
...is almost entirely dependent
on Mexican labor.
These workers prepare the land
and harvest the food for our tables.
And so all along the border,
from Texas to California...
...Mexican farm workers...
Braceros, they are called...
...meaning "those who work
- are waiting on the Mexican side
to be okayed...
...to receive the coveted American
work permits or crossing cards.
the laws of both countries...
...and wait at the border to enter
...under the treaty between the Mexican
and American governments.
But there are other braceros who come
and go illegally, who jump the fence.
These Mexican illegal entrants work
in the United States for a while...
...and upon returning to Mexico are often
robbed of their savings by bandits...
...who infest both sides of the border.
It is this problem of human suffering
and injustice about which you should know.
is based upon factual information...
...supplied by the Immigration
and Naturalization Service...
...of the United States
Department of Justice.
These brutal murders
of defenseless braceros...
...the latest of a number
along the border...
...spur two governments
to new and drastic efforts.
From Mexico City come
Colonel Rafael Alvarado...
...a high official in
the Polica Judicial Federal...
...the FBI of Mexico...
...and Pablo Rodriguez,
one of the PJF's foremost investigators.
From Washington come...
...Assistant Commissioner of Immigration
John McReynolds...
...and Inspector Jack Bearnes...
...who has just finished a tour of duty
along the Gulf.
These officials of Mexico
and of the United States...
...arrive for a meeting at
the governor's palace in Mexicali...
...across the border
from the California town of Calexico.
We are not talking
about bloody shirts or torn hats.
We're not talking about that at all.
We are talking about the people
who lived and died in these clothes.
I know that, sir, but if they cross illegally,
what is our responsibility to them?
Most of my people do not cross illegally.
Those who come over with work permits,
we protect.
As a matter of fact, most of the ranchers
on our side obey these work treaties.
They take certified farm workers
and pay them legal wages.
These things we know, but some
of my people, they are not well-educated.
They allow themselves
to be smuggled across.
I know. And some of my people
pay them half wages...
...conceal them from arrest,
make them live in fear...
...and send them back to the desert
to be robbed and killed.
Since these people work together
to break the law...
...we'll work together
to enforce the law.
- You've worked with one another before.
- Of course.
Oh, Pablo here, sure,
we're old friends.
We worked on a case together
in Brownsville, Texas, years ago.
Incidentally, whatever happened
to that very pretty girl?
The one we picked up in Matamoros?
Oh, yes. The last I heard, she was getting
much less beautiful in prison in Tamaulipas.
- I'm sorry to hear that.
- I know.
Do you wish to continue
with these personal reminiscences?
- This was an awful pretty girl, seor.
- She certainly was.
Captain, tell them your plan.
Well, I intend to become a bracero.
I will appear in Mexicali and be very
impatient to come to the United States.
Now, I can be very impatient,
as you know.
So things will occur...
...and when someone approaches me
to be smuggled over the border...
...why, things will happen.
A fella could get himself killed that way,
couldn't he?
Well, this is one of the less attractive
aspects of the job.
Well, that sounds good.
Now, if Captain Rodriguez will smoke out
that end of the situation, we can...
Well, what I had in mind...
I'll follow Pablo, you see.
And I'll nail down all the contacts
that he makes.
That'll take care of the Mexican side.
As far as the American side...
...if I had some illegal crossing permits
that are numbered...
...wherever they turn up,
we've got a complete case.
And we may be able to knock off
both ends in the same operation.
Its a good plan.
Since the criminals work in a circle,
we will cover the circle.
In case it gets rugged for me,
who's my contact?
Neley, agent in charge of Calexico.
- And if I should get a knife in my back?
- Ill call a doctor for you.
Well, I guess that's it.
Goodbye, sir.
Goodbye, good luck,
and take care of yourself.
Thank you very much.
- Good luck.
- Thank you.
"Jess Hernndez. "
"Hilario Malvido. "
There are many of us, no?
- Too many, seor.
- "Juan Fernndez. "
You will go across soon?
Into the United States?
For six weeks I have been here, waiting.
Every day, waiting.
But today is the day.
- Today they will call my name.
- "Alfonso de Delgado. "
You're from Michoacn, aren't you?
From San Carlos Coyotepec?
We're neighbors, then.
Michoacn is my state.
My home is Uruapan.
- Pablo Rodriguez.
- Juan Garcia.
"Vicente. Juan Vicente Delgado. "
"Juan Garca...
...y Pea.
Juan Garca y Pea. "
"Alfonso Guerra. "
- What do we do now?
- We go back to the plaza.
Tomorrow we come back,
No, I won't wait six weeks.
Not one week.
I'm no man for waiting.
How does one go across outside the law?
It can mean death.
Is it difficult to arrange?
If you want to do it the foolish way.
If you have no regard
for your wife and children.
I have no wife.
How is this done?
Come with me.
It is simple.
Go up to that man,
show him you have 70 pesos.
Tell him you want to go
to the United States.
This is all?
For 70 pesos, it can be arranged.
Show me that you have the pesos.
For my knowledge.
If you're a man of your word,
wear this in your hat.
Be in front of La Fortuna Barberia
tonight by 10:
00.No, Juan, you mustn't.
You told me yourself
you have a wife...
...and a home in your village,
a son and a little daughter.
- A man does not live forever.
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