Politicians, political commentators and many more walked the red carpet Tuesday for the premiere of independent journalist James O’Keefe’s border documentary, distributed on Tucker Carlson Network, and voiced concerns about the border crisis as the election nears.
With less than 30 days until the election, polls show immigration remains a top concern for voters. At the live premiere of the documentary “Line in the Sand,” attendees told the Daily Caller News Foundation they hope the film helps push voters to be alarmed about what is happening to minors being trafficked across the southern border.
Conservative influencer Emily Wilson, also known as Emily Saves America, expressed concerns to the DCNF about the impact of illegal immigration, highlighting U.S. citizens killed by illegal immigrants over the past year. The deaths of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, 37-year-old Rachel Morin and 22-year-old Laken Riley shocked Americans this year, as their alleged killers were found to be illegal immigrants living in the U.S.
“I just did a nine-hour debate the day before yesterday and it was 28 versus 28 Democrats [against] Republicans and six undecided voters. We won, the Republicans won. Because I think when people see how insane these issues are. And how many people are literally dying every single day because of these issues. It’s not something that’s fake news. It’s real. People in your neighborhood are dying,” Wilson told DCNF.
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“I live in Los Angeles. People are being attacked every single day. So yeah, it’s very real. It’s very scary and I think people are finally starting to wake up to all that. It sucks that it had to get to this point,” Wilson said. “It sucks people have to die for people to actually start hearing.”
Illegal border crossings under the Biden-Harris administration hit a record high in the past year. In 2023 alone, U.S. Border Patrol reported over 1.7 million encounters with illegal immigrants, with more than 824,000 migrants released into the U.S. with scheduled court dates.
A Scripps News/Ipsos poll released Sept. 18 found 54% of voters, including 86% of Republicans, 58% of independents and 25% of Democrats, support mass deportations of illegal immigrants.
A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General report released Aug. 20 revealed that the federal government has lost track of at least 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children who crossed the border since fiscal year 2019. The misplacement of children under the Biden-Harris administration, a key issue in the film, resonated with viewers, with anti-human trafficking advocate Tim Ballard telling the DCNF that if voters “actually” understood the complexity of the border crisis, it would sway votes “by a landslide.”
“Yeah, unfortunately people don’t even understand what’s going on. If 300 million plus Americans watched this documentary and understood what’s actually happening on our borders, it’d be a landslide,” Ballard told the DCNF. “It’d be a landslide because there’s one thing that we all agree on and that is that God’s children are not for sale and our current policies have put our children for sale.”
“It’s the wholesale trafficking and slavery of children and if people just knew what was actually happening like Tucker[Carlson] knows, like James[O’Keefe] knows, like I know, it wouldn’t even be a contest this election. So hopefully this movie gets out far and wide,” Ballard added.
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O’Keefe emphasized that the documentary does not take a “political angle,” but instead encourages viewers to “question” their acceptance of the current border system. The filmmaker also highlighted his belief that more whistleblowers within the government will step forward, as one was already featured in the documentary.
“I know it will because it doesn’t come at it from a political angle. When you watch it, there’s nothing political about it. It’s just a story, an unbelievable story,” O’Keefe told the DCNF. “I think it’s going to make us question our expectations of ourselves. Are we comfortable participating in a system that does evil things when you see these children getting trafficked? Are we comfortable with that?”
“We’re going to need some people to step forward. I know that will happen. I know that will happen because I’m already talking to people in the government that want to step forward, and they’re about to. They’re inspired by this individual in the film that is deeply moving. He’s crying, he’s in his uniform. You don’t really see that very often. It’s very moving, I think,” O’Keefe said.
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In July, a Wall Street Journal report revealed that the Biden-Harris administration repeatedly sent unaccompanied migrant children to live with sponsors previously deemed unsuitable by cas
Featured Image Credit: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from Washington D.C, United States
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from Washington D.C, United States_