DE DONDE?
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National origin, it seems, and politics mean everything to the INS. If a refugee happens to be fleeing a regime the United States condemns, say the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, then he or she is an “immigrant” and welcomed into the country. However, if a refugee happens to be fleeing a government backed by the United States, say El Salvador or Guatemala, then he or she becomes an “undocumented alien” and is placed in a “processing center.” Here aliens may stay for months, until they agree to voluntary deportation or until they have earned enough, at a-dollar-a-day jobs in the center, to pay their bond, which may be set at $3,000 or more. In Gallagher’s play, one character’s bond is set at a staggering $25,000: but then, he is suspected of being a left-wing terrorist in his home country, El Salvador.
Set in the Rio Grande valley of Texas, Gallagher’s essentially plotless but nonetheless fascinating docudrama covers a broad canvas, portraying the frustrating bureaucracy that imprisons these aliens without just cause and then, after going through the motions of giving them a fair hearing, sends them back to the countries they’ve fled. Gallagher carefully shows how intensely political the whole process is. Everyone has an ax to grind, from the nonprofit lawyers who defend the refugees as a way of getting back at the “Gipper” to the INS officials who expect every alien to be a left-wing guerrilla or guerrilla sympathizer.
The best performances by far were turned in by Phil Riderelli (who, for the record, is a friend of mine), as the paralegal who falls in love with one of his clients, and Michael Ramirez, as the border guard who discovers that his fiancee is hiding illegal aliens in her home. But it’s hard not to admire everyone involved in this well-written, well-executed production.
