FRONTLINE and ProPublica trace the Trump administration’s federal immigration sweeps in major cities across the country — and the violence, protests and arrests stemming from them.
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How did the operations by masked and heavily armed federal agents, sometimes backed by the U.S. military, unfold in major cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis? And how did protesters and bystanders who are U.S. citizens get caught up in the crackdown? Those questions are at the center of this documentary collaboration from FRONTLINE and ProPublica.
The Trump administration said its immigration crackdown was protecting U.S. citizens by targeting criminals and people who had entered the country illegally. “Caught in the Crackdown” traces how what began as immigration enforcement operations also became something different — with the government arresting hundreds of U.S. citizens who were protesting or observing the raids, and routinely portraying those citizens as domestic terrorists or extremists.
But despite the rhetoric, the reality behind those arrests has often been quite different, ProPublica and FRONTLINE found: “When we analyzed more than 300 of these arrests, we found that while there have been successful prosecutions, over and over, cases have been falling apart, contradicted by video evidence and witness testimony,” says correspondent A.C. Thompson.
Video footage and witness testimony also contradicted official accounts of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of two protesters in Minneapolis, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, at the hands of ICE agents.
It also traces the role of one of the key players in the operations, Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, who defended the aggressive tactics and arrests and called them “exemplary.” After Pretti’s killing, Bovino was moved out of his role and has since retired, with the Trump administration saying it “recognized that certain improvements could and should be made” to its immigration enforcement operations.
“Caught in the Crackdown” is a FRONTLINE production with Schonder Productions in association with ProPublica. The correspondent, producer and writer is A.C. Thompson. The producer, writer and director is Gabrielle Schonder. The senior editor is Frank Koughan. The managing editor of FRONTLINE is Andrew Metz. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.
Explore additional reporting on “Caught in the Crackdown” on our website:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/caught-in-the-crackdown/
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