Documentary exposes ICE raids, Trump deportation campaign

Oscar-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras has released a new documentary, "They're Here," which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. The 25-minute film, co-directed with Rachel Lauren Mueller, chronicles the movements of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during deportation operations in Minneapolis earlier this year. Poitras stated her hope that the documentary will help "denormalize" the violence associated with President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign, describing the situation for immigrants as a "nightmare" and that the "entire country is under attack."

The documentary captures the Minneapolis sweep, which led to weeks of protests and confrontations between demonstrators and ICE agents, resulting in the deaths of two U.S. citizens. Poitras emphasized the urgency of showing these events immediately, using cinema's power to counter the normalization of such violence in mainstream media. The film is largely shot from the perspective of local residents who tracked ICE vehicles and includes scenes of masked agents confronting protesters and handcuffed detainees being placed on deportation flights.

Mueller explained that the filmmakers aimed to document both the scale of the anti-migrant sweep and the community's response. She noted that the resistance focused on documentation to keep people safe, stating, "These are our neighbors, and we don't want them stolen from us." The eventual reduction in ICE operations in Minneapolis, with 80% of agents removed, was seen by Mueller as a success of this community resistance, offering a source of hope.