Educational Media Reviews Online

Maria Jesus (age 13) and her cousin Renee (age 12) travel 1500 miles from their home in Puebla to cross the United States/Mexican border at Nogales. The purpose of their quest is to reunite with their mothers; Irma and Blanca. Maria de Jesus has not seen her mother in 7 years while Renee has not seen his mother in 1 year. They were hiding in the branches near the rail track by the tunnel they just came out of when an officer turned on some lights and shouted “Immigration.” The smuggler and everybody that was crossing the border with them ran in different directions. Before Maria de Jesus could turn herself into the authorities, Rene pulled her back and told her to run. Renee was able to get through without problems, but Maria de Jesus got tangled up in the metal barbed wire fence and cut her body and clothing. In the end they are taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Neither of them knew if they would be separated, allowed to return to Mexico, or be put in a correctional facility.

Back in Rio Valiente, Puebla their grandmother (Maria Adela) receives a phone call from Maria de Jesus. Maria Adela is informed that the children are being detained and they need her to come and get them since the authorities will not release them to anyone else. Until then their grandmother did not know that Maria de Jesus and Renee had ran away. Maria Adela was left in charge to raise Maria de Jesus and her four siblings. Rio Valiente is full of many grandparents in similar situations. Unfortunately, the 70 Pesos earned is not enough to pay for food, clothing, and education cost for one's offspring, forcing parents to go abroad to work for better wages to send home to support their children. Eventually when the children of this predicament reach adulthood, they also decide for themselves to leave. An estimated 3.5 million undocumented immigrants enter the United States every year; close to 100,000 of them are children. While the journey is long, demanding, and especially unsafe for females many children cross the border to look for work or reunite with family. Children in No Man's Land concentrates on the stories of Maria de Jesus and Renee but looks at the overall phenomenon of children illegally crossing the U.S./Mexican border. After Maria de Jesus and Renee's initial failure Irma tries to encourage her daughter to return to Mexico, but with funding from relatives and assistance from another smuggler they cross the border again and finally get to their intended location Chicago, Illinois (where their mothers live). After the precarious journey, the initial reunion is joyous but difficulties still lay ahead. Following her arrival Maria de Jesus tells her mother, she wants to enroll in school to continue her studies. This obviously could not be done right away since she is in the United States illegally. Days and months pass and Maria de Jesus is still not enrolled in school. During this time she stays at home to cook, clean, and take care of her niece. It takes two attempts for her to gain admission to school because her paper work is incomplete. Renee had better luck. He is happy to be with his family and gets along well with his teacher. His grades have improved and he is preparing for his first communion. However, they are both not truly pleased with their lives in the United States and eventually want to return to Mexico. This especially rings true for Maria de Jesus, who assumed Chicago would be prettier and a lot more fun. She not only has to negotiate a new relationship with her mother but has less freedom in the United States than she had in Mexico and to make matters worse one of the main reason Maria Jesus came to the United States was to be with Irma, however due to Irma's work schedule Maria de Jesus spend very little time with her. Clearly, the United States Maria de Jesus fantasized about is not the one she found.

Children in No Man's Land reveals the shocking world of unaccompanied kids crossing the border. The beginning of the movie is intercut with interviews of different children describing the ordeal of crossing the border and presents scenes of their lives in a shelter for repatriated minors. There are also some short news clips discussing the deployment of the National Guard and escalating efforts to monitor movement at the border to stop the flow of undocumented immigrants. Through the retelling of these young people's experiences and Maria de Jesus' and Renee's stories one sees the environment and circumstances that motivates these youngsters' desperate decisions. Regardless of where one stands on the immigration debate, this documentary works as a good starting point to open up the discussion on immigration issues and policy in the United States.