How the director of 'All We Carry' went behind the headlines of the refugee crisis

As candidates prepare to make their final pitch to voters ahead of the 2024 election, former president Donald Trump is once again using lies and hateful rhetoric about immigrants to fuel his pitch to voters.

Trump has doubled down on falsehoods about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, and claimed at a rally on Saturday that migrants are “attacking villages and cities all throughout the Midwest.”

During Trump’s time in the White House, his administration pursued a policy of separating children from their families at the U.S. border to deter would-be migrants. 

But even at the height of “zero tolerance,” many families weighed the risks, and made the difficult decision to leave their homes in Central America and make the dangerous trek to seek asylum in the U.S.

The new documentary 'All We Carry'  tells the story of one such family: Magdiel, Mirna, and their young son, Joshua.

They fled violence in Honduras, and the camera follows as they make the difficult and dangerous journey through Mexico on foot and on cargo trains. At the U.S. border, they claim asylum.

Eventually, Magdiel, Mirna, and Joshua wind up in Seattle. With the help of a local synagogue, they begin building a new life for themselves.

But looming over them – is the question of whether or not they’ll be able to stay together, in their adopted home.

Soundside talks to journalist and director Cady Voge about 'All We Carry' and the family behind it.

All We Carry is screening this Friday, September 27th at the Northwest Film Forum’s Local Sightings Film Festival.

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Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.

Guests:

• Cady Voge, journalist and director of 'All We Carry'