Chihuahua State, Mexico - May 11, 2024

[Note: partially no sound]

Storyline:
The migrant crisis at America's southern border with Mexico has become an intractable malaise as the U.S. elections approach in November, while the authorities and migrants are playing cat and mouse in blockading and breaking siege at the treacherous and insidious borderline.

Amid the ongoing migration crisis, a key issue in the upcoming 2024 presidential election, the United States and Mexico released a joint statement last month, directing their national security teams to collaborate on implementing measures to curb irregular border crossings. Consequently, Mexican authorities have adopted a hardline stance, intensifying security measures along crucial routes leading to the border.

The Sonora Desert in Northern Mexico represents the final stretch for migrants striving to reach the U.S. border. However, scattered along this sole 360-kilometer highway are Mexican patrols and checkpoints designed to stop them, creating a tense game of cat and mouse.

Neyany Silva and her group have made it a third of the journey, navigating extreme terrain to avoid highway checkpoints.

Catching rides along this stretch of highway is a daunting task, as local Mexicans fear being accused of human smuggling. Even if they manage to board a bus, there are no guarantees of reaching the border city of Ciudad Juarez.

Forty-two kilometers from Ciudad Juarez, the Precos checkpoint is where Mexican authorities search vehicles for undocumented migrants, seeking to detain them before they cross into the United States.

For those caught, it means being transported all the way back to Mexico's southern border with Guatemala - a journey that had taken Neyany and her children two months to cover.

At the end of the trial lies Ciudad Juarez and the U.S. border. Migrants like Oliver Perez have made it, but it nearly cost him his life.

Reaching the Rio Grande, Oliver has succeeded where many fail, but the final five-meter-tall border wall still stands in his way.

Those who make it to Ciudad Juarez and the U.S. border face another watershed decision - wait indefinitely for an asylum appointment at the port of entry, or attempt to cross illegally into America.

Shotlist:
Chihuahua State, Mexico - May 11, 2024:
1. Aerial shot of Sonora Desert;
2. Various of vehicles at checkpoint;
3. Various of Neyany Silva, Venezuelan migrant and other migrants together walking through desert;
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic, dubbed in English) Neyany Silva, Venezuelan migrant (starting with shot 3/ending with shot 5):
"We have to hide, walk through the desert, run if they spot us, and come back to the road where they can't see us. There are animals, broken glass and it's dangerous, especially at night."
5. Various of Silva and other migrants walking through desert;
6. Aerial shot of vehicles moving on highway, migrants walking along highway;
7. Various of migrants boarding on bus;
8. Aerial shot of highway in Sonora Desert;
9. Various of vehicles, solider at checkpoint;
10. Various of Silva and other migrants walking along highway;
11. Aerial shots of highway in Sonora Desert;
12. SOUNDBITE (Arabic, dubbed in English) Neyany Silva, Venezuelan migrant (starting with shot 11):
"Getting sent back is a disaster, it cancels out all the effort made just getting this far. They send us back, but then they let us go and try again, that's the game they're playing."
13. Aerial shot of highway;
14. Oliver Perez, another Venezuelan migrant, walking by holding his child;
15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic, dubbed in English) Oliver Perez, Venezuelan migrant (starting with shot 14/partially overlaid with shot 16):
"We had lost hope, our water and food ran out, and there's nothing but desert out there. If I had gone alone, I would have died in the attempt, but my children gave me the strength to continue.";
[SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]
16. Various of trees, abandoned items on roadside;
[SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]
17. Various of vehicles, highway;
18. SOUNDBITE (Arabic, dubbed in English) Oliver Perez, Venezuelan migrant (starting with shot 17/ending with shot 19):
"It's nearly a dream come true: we can see the U.S., but we're still in Mexico."
19. Aerial shots of vehicles, buildings;
20. Various of desert, border wall, man walking towards vehicle.

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