Asylum and The Terminal
The stupidly inane The Terminal seemed to convey the impression to unaware Americans that the Customs people are actually kind, loving, and would let you live in a airport if you had no visa. Or no country.
Bullshit.
If you happen to arrive from a country that has a visa program, and you do not know it because they changed the rules, they will deport you. That happened to a journalist from England, former resident of the USA, with a child born in the USA, and married to a US citizen.
Now, instead of a highly connected journalist, think of any tourist coming here from Mexico: deported, stripped, made to sign a confession and waiving all your rights to defense.
If you are a refugee, you may spend months under arrest, as it has happened to children: they are jailed along with adults, subject to strip searches and deprived of all rights. Lawyer? You are kidding.
And this is prevalent all over the USA: Amnesty International has been very vocal about how the USA treats asylum seekers as criminals.
So, please spare me the naive and almost criminally negligent platitude of that movie. Sickening. The reality would be oh so much harsher, but I suppose we have seen enough torture for a year. Or we are getting inured to it.