As "Split At the Root" (2022 documentary; 101 min.) opens, we are introduced to Yeni Gonzalez, a Guatemalan mother of three kids who were taken away from her when entering the US to apply for asylum. When the shocking truth of the Trump administration's policy of family separation came to light, a woman in New York decided to try and so something about it. Soon she was joined by others, forming the non-profit Immigrant Families Together. At this point we are 10 minutes into the documentary.
Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary from producer-director Lina Goldstein Knowles ("We Are the Radical Monarchs"). Here she takes a look at the traumatizing consequences of the Trump administration's family separation, and the correlating road blocks in place to prevent migrants from applying and obtaining asylum. Filmed over 4 years (2018-2022), the documentary follows two mothers, both from Guatemala, as they (and their kids) are grinding through the American justice system. Of course the outright cruel and inhumane family separation policy was ruled illegal by US courts once it was exposed. Or as someone puts it: "What policy is served by causing lifelong traumas in kids with this policy?". The documentary focuses extensively on the work of Immigrant Families Together, working tirelessly to reunite mothers and their children. Women like Julie Collazo and Meghan Finn, the New York-based co-founders of IFT, are nothing short of American heroes. The documentary has been criticized by some as focusing too much on the women of IFT (as opposed to the immigrant families themselves) but I believe it is important to highlight that many ordinary Americans deeply disagreed with what the Trump administration was doing, and some of them then actually did something about it.
"Split At the Root" started streaming on Netflix last week. I read a positive write-up about it in the New York Times, and finally watched it for myself just last night. While as such there are no "new revelations" in this documentary about the illegal family separation policy during the Trump administration, it nevertheless makes for compelling viewing to see how it affected two immigrant families from Guatemala in such a profound way, and how a group of American women decided to do something about it. I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.
