Events spotlight immigration debate

AUSTIN (KXAN) - A preview of an upcoming HBO Special reveals the human side of the national debate over illegal immigration.

Scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the LBJ Library auditorium on the University of Texas campus, The Fence focuses on unintended consequences of the construction of a barrier between Mexico and the United States. The 38-minute documentary is to be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Rice University historian Douglas Brinkley and featuring producer Keven McAlester and producer/director Rory Kennedy, the youngest of Robert Kennedy's 11 children.

"You sort of get that sort of extra dimension to seeing a movie," said Kelly Williams, film programmer for the Austin Film Festival , which brought the preview to Austin. "You're not just at home watching on HBO; you're in a crowd with a lot of other people watching the film and then you kind of see how they react."

For those who miss the Austin screening, it premieres on HBO Sept. 16.

The public can also take advantage of another event aimed at deepening the conversation about the immigration issue.

ArtesAméricas , a University of Texas program, opened a photographic exhibition on the subject at UT's Bass Concert Hall Thursday. It features the work of Mexican documentary photographer Jose Hernández-Claire , who spent three years shooting photos of Latin American immigrants as they braved the "Death Train" or "The Beast," nicknames for the tortuous journey from Mexico's southern border to the Rio Grande, in an effort to reach work opportunities in the United States.

"I try to be neutral," said Hernandez-Claire. "I try to be just a witness of what is in front of me."

The photographer said Mexican authorities do try to limit the flow of immigrants northward.

"They try to tell them that they shouldn't do that," he said. "I mean, because of the risks, because this is a very dangerous trip to do, risk their life. The government places ads to try to stop people from coming, which is the only thing they can do to prevent the people to come that way, illegally. Still they come. They don't hear; they just want to try to make their dream come true to come to the U.S. and they don't listen to any advice."

That decision often comes at great peril.

"In the long journey from Guatemala to Mexico, they're assaulted; they run out of money, water, food," said Hernandez-Claire said. "You see in some of the photos, some people climbing the trains. You see the difficulty they have to climb many times when the train is already running."

For Joe Randel, director of Artes/Americas, photos like the one of an immigrant who lost his legs when he fell under a train, bring an important perspective to the immigration issue.

"We're constantly flooded with bar graphs and percentages and immigration isn't just some kind of amorphous, distant phenomenon that takes place," Randel said. 'It's happening right on our border and it involves real people."

The exhibition runs through Dec. 3.