Oscar-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras unveiled her latest powerful documentary, They’re Here, at the Venice Film Festival, passionately describing the current state of immigration enforcement in the United States as a "nightmare" that demands urgent cinematic attention. The 25-minute film offers a visceral account of the Minneapolis resistance movement against what Poitras terms a "paramilitary occupation" by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last year. Poitras emphasized the critical role of cinema in confronting the normalization of state violence, aiming to evoke a profound sense of terror and reality often absent from mainstream narratives.
A Filmmaker’s Commitment to Unmasking Power
Laura Poitras is renowned for her unwavering commitment to documenting critical moments in contemporary history, often focusing on issues of surveillance, civil liberties, and government overreach. Her previous works have consistently challenged official narratives and brought to light stories of immense public interest. In 2015, she earned the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for Citizenfour, a landmark film chronicling Edward Snowden’s revelations about the National Security Agency’s global surveillance programs. This film not only garnered critical acclaim but also significantly influenced public discourse on privacy and government accountability. More recently, Poitras received the prestigious Golden Lion at the 2022 Venice Film Festival for All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, a poignant documentary about photographer Nan Goldin’s activism against the Sackler family and their role in the opioid crisis. The film went on to receive an Oscar nomination, cementing Poitras’s reputation as a vital voice in contemporary documentary filmmaking. Her consistent focus on the abuse of power and the fight for justice underscores the thematic resonance of They’re Here within her distinguished body of work.
The Genesis of They’re Here: A Response to Crisis
Poitras articulated a strong sense of urgency driving the creation of They’re Here, stating, "We believed in a sense of urgency in documenting this. What we’re seeing in the United States is a nightmare, and we feel what’s happening in the mainstream media is that this kind of violence is being normalized." She believes deeply in "the power of cinema to denormalize this violence and to show what’s happening, so that you can feel the sense of terror." This perspective highlights a recurring theme in Poitras’s work: using the documentary form not just to inform, but to provoke an emotional and visceral response that challenges complacency.
The film, co-directed with Minneapolis-based journalist and documentarian Rachel Lauren Mueller, draws on a diverse array of source material to reconstruct the unfolding events. Dashcam footage, crowdsourced data visualizations, and ground-level recordings are meticulously woven together to illustrate the intricate resistance network and the cat-and-mouse surveillance tactics employed by both residents and ICE’s masked agents. This multi-perspectival approach aims to create a comprehensive and immersive experience for the audience, mirroring the complex reality faced by those on the ground.
Dystopian Reality: The Film’s Chilling Narrative
They’re Here adopts the stylistic language of dystopian sci-fi cinema to depict a chilling reality. The film opens with seemingly picturesque wintry American Midwest landscapes, only to quickly plunge viewers into a stark vision of "Trump’s America in 2025." This future scenario, though framed fictitiously, serves to amplify existing anxieties and realities. Masked figures are shown abducting children, while residents resort to hiding in car trunks to safely commute to work. In another scene, everyday American vacationers at Minneapolis’s airport gaze out windows at shackled prisoners being forcibly boarded onto planes nearby.
Poitras clarified the intent behind these stylistic choices during her Venice remarks: "We were using the genres or language of dystopian cinema or horror to take us closer to reality, not to take us further away, and not to make fiction from reality." She asserted that "This actually is the reality – the reality is a nightmare. The entire country is under attack, and immigrants are living in fear throughout the United States right now." This approach seeks to bypass intellectual detachment, forcing viewers to confront the emotional and psychological toll of aggressive immigration enforcement. By presenting these events through a dystopian lens, the filmmakers aim to heighten awareness of the stakes involved and challenge the audience to recognize the present-day parallels.
Understanding the Minneapolis Resistance and ICE’s Role
The backdrop of They’re Here is the intense resistance movement that emerged in Minneapolis in response to escalated ICE operations. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, established in 2003 following the 9/11 attacks, is the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for enforcing immigration laws. While its stated mission includes protecting national security and public safety, its tactics, particularly during the Trump administration, drew widespread criticism. Policies such as increased raids, family separations at the border, and the deployment of federal agents to cities often sparked significant public outcry and protests.
During the period chronicled in the film, Minneapolis became a focal point for community resistance. Local activists, organizers, and residents formed solidarity networks to protect their immigrant neighbors from detention and deportation. These efforts included rapid response teams, legal aid, and public demonstrations aimed at disrupting ICE operations. The phrase "paramilitary occupation" used by Poitras reflects the perception among many residents and activists that ICE agents operated with an aggressive, military-like presence, often in unmarked vehicles and with tactical gear, creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation within immigrant communities.
The Normalization of Violence and the Power of Visceral Storytelling
Rachel Lauren Mueller, Poitras’s co-director, elaborated on the film’s objective to disrupt societal desensitization. "Over the two Trump terms, we’ve seen that things have gotten more extreme, but people become used to certain things," Mueller observed. "So I think the real role of this film is to shake that up a bit – to change things from a space of intellectualization about these numbers and these images that we see, and to have it become more visceral again." This statement underscores the film’s ambition to move beyond mere statistics and headlines, aiming to evoke a deeper, more empathetic understanding of the human cost of current immigration policies.
The concept of "normalization of violence" is central to the film’s thesis. Poitras and Mueller argue that the constant exposure to reports of raids, detentions, and deportations, often presented in a detached or procedural manner by mainstream media, can lead to a desensitization among the public. By employing the immersive and emotionally charged language of cinema, They’re Here attempts to break through this barrier, forcing viewers to confront the terror and uncertainty experienced by immigrant communities directly. The film’s narrative structure and visual style are deliberately crafted to challenge intellectual distance and foster a renewed sense of urgency and moral indignation.
Solidarity, Success, and Ongoing Challenges
Poitras emphasized that They’re Here, much like the resistance movement it documents, originated from a profound sense of community solidarity. "It came from a real sense of, ‘These are our neighbors, and we don’t want them stolen from us. We want these people to stay safe,’" she explained. This sentiment highlights the grassroots nature of the Minneapolis efforts, where local residents actively intervened to protect individuals they considered integral to their community fabric. The film champions this localized activism as a powerful counter-force to federal enforcement.
The documentary also explores the complex outcome of Minneapolis’s resistance, presenting a nuanced picture of both hope and despair. Poitras described the response to the community’s efforts as a "great success." She noted, "At the end of the film, we say how these tens and hundreds of thousands of residents responded, and that ICE removed 80 percent of its agents. So there was a real response to this kind of resistance, which I think we can all take hope from." This significant reduction in ICE presence demonstrates the tangible impact that organized community action can have, offering a beacon of hope for similar movements elsewhere.
However, Poitras quickly tempered this optimism with a stark reminder of the enduring power and reach of immigration enforcement agencies. "At the same time, ICE has a budget of $70 billion, which is just an astronomical amount of money," she pointed out. Furthermore, she revealed alarming statistics: "Additionally, in the last two months, 90,000 people were abducted. So it’s this is a record high that has happened in June and July. So ICE is absolutely still active. Their tactics just look very different now." The term "abducted," used by Poitras, underscores the filmmakers’ critical perspective on these detentions, framing them as a forceful removal of individuals rather than a routine legal process. This dual perspective – celebrating localized victories while acknowledging the overwhelming systemic power of ICE – forms a critical tension within the documentary. It suggests that while direct resistance can achieve specific successes, the broader challenge of systemic change remains immense, with tactics constantly evolving.
Broader Implications and the Role of Documentary Film
They’re Here contributes to a crucial national conversation about immigration policy, human rights, and the balance of power between federal agencies and local communities. The film’s portrayal of ICE operations, particularly the use of masked agents and the depiction of arbitrary detentions, feeds into ongoing debates about accountability, transparency, and civil liberties in the context of immigration enforcement. Critics of current ICE practices argue that aggressive tactics foster fear, discourage cooperation with law enforcement, and tear apart families and communities, often without significant public safety benefits.
The documentary also serves as a powerful testament to the role of independent filmmaking in holding power accountable and giving voice to marginalized communities. By choosing to premiere They’re Here at a prestigious international festival like Venice, Poitras ensures a global platform for these critical issues, potentially influencing international perceptions and putting pressure on U.S. policymakers. The film’s distribution by Submarine Entertainment Sales for U.S. sales and co-production by ARTE France suggests a broad reach, aiming to bring this "nightmare" reality to as wide an audience as possible.
A Continuing Struggle
They’re Here premiered in the Venice Open – Out of Competition strand, a section dedicated to nonfiction and special presentations, on a Monday afternoon in the Sala Grande. The film was produced by Mueller, Poitras, and longtime Poitras collaborator Yoni Golijov, with ARTE France serving as co-producer. The documentary serves not just as a historical record of the Minneapolis resistance but as a stark warning and an urgent call to action. It forces audiences to grapple with the visceral realities of immigration enforcement in the United States, challenging them to confront the "nightmare" and to question the normalization of practices that profoundly impact human lives and the fabric of society. The film leaves viewers with a sense of the ongoing struggle, highlighting both the power of collective resistance and the formidable, evolving nature of state authority.
