"On the Line, Les expulsés de l’Amérique" : a border that breaks lives

Every year, more than 100,000 Mexicans are deported from the United States to their country of origin. Many of them grew up, studied, worked and started families on the other side of the wall. The documentary On the Line, les expulsés de l’Amérique by Léo Mattei and Alex Gohari gives a face to these broken lives.

© Brotherfilms

Broken destinies

The film plunges us into the grey area between two worlds: the border town of Tijuana, which has become the destination for thousands of people forcibly removed from US soil. Many have no ties to Mexico other than their administrative nationality. They speak English, have children who are US citizens, and have built their lives there. And yet, they are deported, with no recourse. Through the directors' sensitive lens, On the Line tells the story of these deportees not as statistics, but as a human tragedy.

Voices speaking out against injustice

The film follows the harrowing journeys of Rocío, Sergio and Richard. Their stories illustrate the many forms of violence they have experienced: being torn away from their families, losing their rights overnight, having to survive in a country where they sometimes do not even speak the language. The documentary captures this intimate fracture, this forced wandering, and the pain of the families left behind on the other side of the wall. On the Line is a committed documentary that seeks to make the invisible visible, to give a voice to those who are never heard. It is an attempt to tell the story that numbers cannot tell: loss, separation, humiliation, but also resilience.

On the Line, les expulsés de l'Amérique received the prestigious Albert Londres Documentary Award in 2021, recognising the strength of its journalistic perspective and its humanist commitment.