"No Human Being Is Illegal"

Tired of the long summer days? Sick of boring reality shows that seem scripted? Well, the cure for you is an original reality TV show. FX Networks presents their original reality series, “30 Days” on Wednesday nights at 10pm. According to the FX website for “30 Days”, the show “places an individual in a living environment that is antithetical to their upbringing, beliefs, religion, or profession in an effort to examine real societal differences that Americans face everyday.” Some of the issues that the show has tackled are immigration, outsourcing, jail, and pro-life/pro-choice. Morgan Spurlock is the series creator of “30 Days”. You may also know him as the Oscar nominee for his production of the movie, “Super Size Me”. Spurlock and his crew produce this show to reach out to all of the diverse viewers who watch TV. The show has been aired on Oprah’s talk show for some of the issues it tackles and has even been shown in more than 15 countries around the world.

In the episode of “30 Days” that I viewed, a minuteman, Frank George, was packing up for 30 days to live with a family of illegal immigrants. Frank believes that “illegal aliens are a plague on the country that need to be removed.” Frank is a legal U.S. citizen although he did immigrate to the United States from Cuba. He speaks fluent Spanish which helps him during his stay with the Gonzalez’s. All members of the Gonzalez family are illegal immigrants, except for two children who were born in the United States. For Frank to become an ‘illegal alien’ he had three rules to follow: leave all of his personal identification behind, move in with an illegal family and share their cramped space, and be put to work as a day laborer.

Frank spends time with the Gonzalez’s by eating, talking, and working with them. His days are spent by visiting areas around East Los Angeles, working as a handy man, separating recyclables, and going golfing. Armida, one of the Gonzalez children, also takes Frank to a vigil of illegal immigrants that is supporting a new bill from the Senate that, if passed, would give all of the Gonzalez’s documented status. Another thing that Frank did during his 30 days was to visit Mexico and see some of the Gonzalez family and their condition of living before immigrating. At the end, although parts of Frank’s stay were rocky, there is a tearful goodbye.

Throughout the episode I noticed two really important issues that were highlighted. The first was illegal immigrants. Frank George had some very strong views towards illegal immigrants. He stated that he saw America as an ailing country and the sickness was illegal immigrants. He described how he protests illegal immigrants after becoming involved with the minutemen after 9/11. Frank would travel to the U.S./Mexico border every weekend with his wife and his 9mm handgun with ammunition and would report any illegal immigrants to the U.S. border patrol. Frank had some very strong views about illegal immigrants, but after staying with the Gonzalez’s for a while he seems to be faltering a bit in his beliefs. When Franks is saying goodbye to the Gonzalez’s he says, “There comes a time when you love people for who they are, all politics aside.” I feel that because of his stay he got to actually know the Gonzalez’s and saw the poverty that they left behind in Mexico; I think he actually understands why people do cross the border illegally.

Another important issue is that Frank is Cuban and a minuteman. On the show while the Gonzalez’s were waiting to meet Frank they were talking about how they hoped he was blond and blue-eyed. They felt it would be acceptable if he was white, but not acceptable if he were Latino because he would be going against his own ethnicity. The Gonzalez’s were shocked when they saw Frank and heard him speak Spanish. A heated debate developed because of this. However, Frank explained that although he is Latino, he is a legal citizen. He supports people immigrating to the United States; he just wants people to do it legally.

I thought it strange that Frank had these hard set beliefs about illegal immigrants since he is Cuban. I feel that Frank was influenced in his opinion of illegal immigrants since he did not join the minutemen until after 9/11. Frank probably only got the pictures he had in his head from the news that the media supplied, which depict negative aspects of illegal immigrants in our country. Walter Lippmann states, "Thus there can be little doubt that the moving picture is steadily building up imagery which is then evoked by the words people read in their newspapers. (50)" I believe this means Frank saw all of these images that the gatekeepers applied through the media and let them build up in his head. When he finally saw an ad or an article for the minutemen in the newspaper, all these pictures came rushing into his head and he figured by joining he could help to make a difference.

I thoroughly enjoyed the show and was almost brought to tears at the end. The show was very interesting and helped me to understand some of the US Immigration issues. I would give the show an A+ because it is thought provoking and has a specific purpose. I would recommend for anyone to watch the show. The show was produced to give the average American more insight into an illegal immigrant’s life and examine real societal differences these immigrants face everyday.