ICE List:Culture

Culture: watch, listen, read

A community-curated library of film, documentaries, music and writing about immigration, detention and the fight for immigrant justice. These are cultural recommendations — kept deliberately separate from the documented record on this site.

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Podcast2026

An episode of Robert Evans’s history/comedy podcast Behind the Bastards examining how ICE targets international and student-visa holders for deportation.

How ICE Is Targeting Students for Deportation

Behind the Bastards

Podcast2026

The Guardian’s Stateside podcast: Kai Wright speaks with immigration reporter José Olivares about how ICE became so deadly, after officers killed two immigrants in separate shootings in Texas and Maine..

How ICE Became So Deadly

The Guardian · Stateside with Kai Wright

Doc2026

A recorded public panel from Roosevelt House at Hunter College examining ICE as an instrument of state violence and the deliberate machinery of fear driving mass immigration enforcement..

ICE Brutality - State Violence and the Machinery of Fear

Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute, Hunter College

Doc2020

Filmmakers embed with ICE for three years, capturing raids, deportations and the human toll from inside the agency.

Immigration Nation

Netflix docuseries

Doc2019

Young activists deliberately get detained to organize from inside a for-profit detention center.

The Infiltrators

Cristina Ibarra & Alex Rivera

Doc2009

Follows unaccompanied children riding freight trains north toward the US border.

Which Way Home

Rebecca Cammisa

Film2009

A Honduran teen and a gang defector cross Mexico by train in a tense migrant-journey drama.

Sin Nombre

Cary Joji Fukunaga

Film2011

An undocumented gardener in Los Angeles risks everything to build a future for his son.

A Better Life

Chris Weitz

Film2007

A widowed professor is drawn into the immigration-detention system after befriending an undocumented couple.

The Visitor

Tom McCarthy

Film2021

A Korean-American adoptee raised in Louisiana faces deportation to a country he never knew.

Blue Bayou

Justin Chon

Music1948

Written after a crash killed 28 deported farmworkers the press left unnamed — the original migrant-justice protest song.

Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)

Woody Guthrie

Music1998

The anthem of the undocumented, sung from the migrant’s point of view.

Clandestino

Manu Chao

Music2015

A blunt, viral single and video confronting the global migration crisis and border politics.

Borders

M.I.A.

Music1968–

Decades of migration corridos — "La Jaula de Oro," "Tres Veces Mojado" — that turned the immigrant experience into folk history.

Los Tigres del Norte

Norteño corridos

Book2004

The true story of 26 men who crossed the Arizona desert and the 14 who died — a landmark of border reporting.

The Devil’s Highway

Luis Alberto Urrea

Book2020

A fierce, literary account of undocumented life beyond the headlines, by a formerly undocumented writer.

The Undocumented Americans

Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

Book2017

An essay built from the 40 questions asked of child migrants in immigration court.

Tell Me How It Ends

Valeria Luiselli

Podcast2011–

Long-form Latin American and US-Latino stories, many tracing migration and its aftermath.

Radio Ambulante

NPR (Spanish)

Podcast1993–

The long-running radio show and podcast covering immigration, enforcement and Latino life in the US.

Latino USA

NPR / Futuro Media

Doc2024

Investigates the Trump administration's family-separation policy through interviews and reenactments, based on Jacob Soboroff's book.

Separated

Errol Morris

Doc2016

Golden Bear winner at Berlin and Oscar-nominated portrait of the migrant crisis on the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Fire at Sea

Gianfranco Rosi

Doc2017

Filmed over a year in 23 countries following some of the world's forcibly displaced people; premiered in competition at Venice.

Human Flow

Ai Weiwei

Doc2019

An Afghan family films their own flight from the Taliban on three phones.

Midnight Traveler

Hassan Fazili

Doc2021

Animated documentary of a gay Afghan refugee; first film Oscar-nominated for Animated, Documentary and International Feature at once.

Flee

Jonas Poher Rasmussen

Doc2020

Follows Dominicans of Haitian descent after a 2013 court ruling stripped citizenship, rendering over 200,000 people stateless.

Stateless

Michèle Stephenson

Doc2021

Short film shot via video calls inside a Georgia ICE detention center during COVID-19.

The Facility

Seth Freed Wessler

Doc2024

Examines the profit-driven "border industrial complex" of immigration enforcement.

Borderland: The Line Within

Pamela Yates

Doc2013

Traces an unidentified migrant's body found in the Arizona desert; features Gael García Bernal.

Who Is Dayani Cristal?

Marc Silver

Doc2006

Follows three "Lost Boys of Sudan" from a Kenyan refugee camp to U.S. resettlement.

God Grew Tired of Us

Christopher Dillon Quinn

Doc2020

Cambodian refugee Ted Ngoy builds a California donut empire and sponsors fellow refugees.

The Donut King

Alice Gu

Doc2011

Investigates abuse in immigrant detention and the Secure Communities program.

Lost in Detention

FRONTLINE (PBS)

Doc2025

Investigates the treatment of protesters and bystanders during Trump-era immigration sweeps.

Caught in the Crackdown

FRONTLINE / ProPublica

Doc2019

A mother's first-person chronicle of the Aleppo siege and the decision to flee.

For Sama

Waad al-Kateab, Edward Watts

Doc2016

A Haitian woman in the Dominican Republic fights to regularize status and avoid deportation; Amnesty prize winner. (Limited availability.)

Si Bondye vle, Yuli (God Willing, Yuli)

Jean Jean

Doc2021

Documents how the border wall divides the Tohono O'odham Nation and desecrates ancestral sites. (Limited availability.)

Whose Land? O'odham Land!

Tohono O'odham community filmmakers

Doc2017

Experimental 16mm portrait of the Sonoran Desert and its border crossings. (Limited availability.)

El mar la mar

J.P. Sniadecki, Joshua Bonnetta

Doc2020

Meditative portrait of life along Middle Eastern borders scarred by war and displacement.

Notturno

Gianfranco Rosi

Film1983

Foundational film following Maya siblings fleeing Guatemala to "the North."

El Norte

Gregory Nava

Film2008

A veteran's bond with his Hmong refugee neighbors confronts his prejudice.

Gran Torino

Clint Eastwood

Film2004

A pregnant Colombian teen becomes a drug mule bound for New York.

Maria Full of Grace

Joshua Marston

Film2022

True story of Syrian sisters Yusra and Sara Mardini fleeing to Europe by sea.

The Swimmers

Sally El Hosaini

Film2023

Two Senegalese teens' journey across the Sahara and Mediterranean to Italy; Silver Lion winner and Oscar nominee.

Io Capitano

Matteo Garrone

Film2020

A Korean American family starts a farm in 1980s Arkansas.

Minari

Lee Isaac Chung

Film2007

A boy crosses the border to find his undocumented mother working in Los Angeles.

Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna)

Patricia Riggen

Film2022

Semi-autobiographical comedy of a Palestinian family awaiting asylum in Houston.

Mo

Mo Amer, Ramy Youssef

Film2020

Five siblings fend for themselves after their parents are deported to Mexico.

Party of Five

Amy Lippman, Christopher Keyser

Film2017

A child's survival under the Khmer Rouge, based on Loung Ung's memoir.

First They Killed My Father

Angelina Jolie

Film2014

Sudanese war orphans resettle in the American Midwest; features real former Lost Boys.

The Good Lie

Philippe Falardeau

Film2007

Animated memoir of a girl's exile from revolutionary Iran to Europe.

Persepolis

Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud

Film2015

Tamil refugees pose as a family to seek asylum in France; Palme d'Or winner.

Dheepan

Jacques Audiard

Film2006

A Bengali immigrant family navigates identity across generations in New York.

The Namesake

Mira Nair

Film1985

A young British-Pakistani man and his lover confront racism in Thatcher-era London.

My Beautiful Laundrette

Stephen Frears

Film2008

Sci-fi imagining a future of "virtual" migrant labor across a militarized border.

Sleep Dealer

Alex Rivera

Film2021

Musical of a Dominican American neighborhood in Washington Heights, including an undocumented character.

In the Heights

Jon M. Chu

Film2024

A Hungarian Jewish architect rebuilds his life in postwar America.

The Brutalist

Brady Corbet

Film2015

An Irish immigrant builds a new life in 1950s Brooklyn.

Brooklyn

John Crowley

Film2019

A Monterrey teen flees cartel threats to an isolating exile in New York.

I'm No Longer Here (Ya no estoy aquí)

Fernando Frías de la Parra

Film2020

A mother searches for her son who vanished migrating north.

Identifying Features (Sin señas particulares)

Fernanda Valadez

Film2020

Anthology series dramatizing true stories of immigrants in America.

Little America

Kumail Nanjiani, Emily V. Gordon, Lee Eisenberg

Music2013

Narrates three undocumented workers living under the constant fear of ICE.

El Hielo (ICE)

La Santa Cecilia

Music2016

Hip-hop anthem on immigrant labor from The Hamilton Mixtape.

Immigrants (We Get the Job Done)

K'naan feat. Residente, Riz MC, Snow Tha Product

Music2025

Album engaging displacement and diaspora; its opening track voices a message defending immigrants.

Debí Tirar Más Fotos

Bad Bunny

Music2010

Rapper born to Chilean exiles whose work engages exile, identity and injustice.

La Bala / 1977

Ana Tijoux

Music2019

Reworks Manu Chao's song to address detained migrant children at the U.S. border.

Clandestino (Al Chile version)

Lila Downs

Music1987

Ballad about the perils and false promises awaiting those who cross into the U.S.

Across the Borderline

Ry Cooder, John Hiatt, Jim Dickinson

Music2007

Celebrates New York as a city built by immigrants.

City of Immigrants

Steve Earle

Music2019

Ballad about families and children seeking refuge at the southern border.

A Safe Place to Land

Sara Bareilles feat. John Legend

Music2005

Traces, in reverse, a migrant who drowns crossing the Rio Grande.

Matamoros Banks

Bruce Springsteen

Music2003

Border-rock song depicting a desert crossing into Arizona.

Across the Wire

Calexico

Music2018

Single condemning the family-separation policy and detention conditions.

The Immigrants

Gaby Moreno & Van Dyke Parks

Music2007

Hymn to the migrant's northward journey and resilience.

Pa'l Norte

Calle 13 feat. Orishas

Music2003

Confronts anti-Mexican racism and border hypocrisy from both sides.

Frijolero

Molotov

Music2005

Ballad following an undocumented migrant's dangerous crossing north.

Mojado

Ricardo Arjona

Music2023

Song reclaiming the word "refugee," released for World Refugee Day.

Refugee

K'naan

Music2022

Critiques U.S. hegemony and the treatment of Latin American migrants.

This Is Not America

Residente feat. Ibeyi

Music1984

Chicano-rock meditation on survival and the immigrant's precarious place.

Will the Wolf Survive?

Los Lobos

Music1988

Title track addressing African emigrants living far from home.

Immigrés

Youssou N'Dour

Music1993

Iconic chaabi song about the sorrow of the emigrant who leaves home.

Ya Rayah

Rachid Taha

Music2019

Politically charged song critiquing the border wall and inequality.

Land of the Free

The Killers

Book2018

Memoir by a former Border Patrol agent reckoning with the human cost of enforcement.

The Line Becomes a River

Francisco Cantú

Book2017

Novel using magical "doors" to render the universality of migration and displacement.

Exit West

Mohsin Hamid

Book2022

Memoir of the author's solo journey at age nine from El Salvador to the U.S.

Solito

Javier Zamora

Book2019

Novel interweaving a family road trip with the child-migrant crisis at the border.

Lost Children Archive

Valeria Luiselli

Book2014

Interwoven testimonies of Latin American immigrant families in Delaware.

The Book of Unknown Americans

Cristina Henríquez

Book2016

Novel of a Cameroonian family in New York during the 2008 crash, facing deportation.

Behold the Dreamers

Imbolo Mbue

Book2017

Graphic memoir of a Vietnamese "boat people" family's escape and resettlement.

The Best We Could Do

Thi Bui

Book2007

Memoir including the author's uncle, who died in U.S. immigration detention.

Brother, I'm Dying

Edwidge Danticat

Book2024

Narrative history of U.S.–Central America relations and the making of the migration crisis.

Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here

Jonathan Blitzer

Book2018

Memoir written by phone from Australia's Manus Island detention center.

No Friend But the Mountains

Behrouz Boochani

Book2006

Pulitzer-based account of a Honduran boy riding freight trains to find his mother.

Enrique's Journey

Sonia Nazario

Book2015

Pulitzer-winning novel of a Vietnamese refugee and double agent after Saigon's fall.

The Sympathizer

Viet Thanh Nguyen

Book2018

Memoir on living undocumented and hiding from the government.

Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen

Jose Antonio Vargas

Book2013

Novel on race and immigration following a Nigerian woman in the U.S. and her love's undocumented life in the UK.

Americanah

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Book2015

Anthropological account of migrant deaths in the Sonoran Desert.

The Land of Open Graves

Jason De León

Book2024

Novel of an undocumented Ecuadorian girl coming of age at Harvard.

Catalina

Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

Book2021

Novel of a Colombian American family split apart by immigration policy.

Infinite Country

Patricia Engel

Book2020

Investigative account of the family-separation policy.

Separated: Inside an American Tragedy

Jacob Soboroff

Book2018

Memoir of a Somali man who won the visa lottery and resettled in Maine.

Call Me American

Abdi Nor Iftin

Book2012

Memoir of a girl left behind in Mexico, then crossing to reunite with family.

The Distance Between Us

Reyna Grande

Book2020

Poet's memoir of growing up undocumented amid raids and deportation.

Children of the Land

Marcelo Hernandez Castillo

Book2019

Follows one Filipino family across three decades and continents of migration.

A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves

Jason DeParle

Book2010

Reportage on migrant deaths and enforcement in the Arizona borderlands.

The Death of Josseline

Margaret Regan

Podcast2019

Pulitzer-winning reporting on the "Remain in Mexico" policy — the first Pulitzer ever awarded for audio journalism.

The Out Crowd

This American Life

Podcast2017

Five-part series on people fighting deportation after the 1996 immigration laws.

Indefensible

Immigrant Defense Project

Podcast2018

Interviews on the global refugee crisis and resettlement policy.

Displaced

International Rescue Committee

Podcast2020

Follows refugees adjusting to new lives in Virginia.

Resettled

VPM (host Ahmed Badr)

Podcast2025

Frontline reporting on ICE and Border Patrol immigration raids.

The Raid Podcast

John Carlos Frey

Podcast2018

Interviews deconstructing stereotypes of immigrants and children of immigrants.

Immigrantly

Saadia Khan

Podcast2019

Amplifies first-person stories of asylum, migration and displacement worldwide.

Asylum Speakers

Jaz O'Hara

Podcast2020

Explores undocumented life, DACA and immigration policy.

Define American

Jose Antonio Vargas / Define American

Podcast2021

Eight-part series on asylum seekers caught in Australia's "stop the boats" limbo.

Temporary

SYN Media

Film2013

Guatemalan and Mexican teenagers risk the perilous journey north toward the U.S. border.

The Golden Dream

Diego Quemada-Díez

Doc2025

One Venezuelan family in Florida fights to keep legal status amid the Trump deportation crackdown.

Status: Venezuelan

ProPublica / FRONTLINE

Doc2025

Three Venezuelan men with no convictions, branded Tren de Aragua and deported to El Salvador's CECOT prison, describe the abuse inside.

Surviving CECOT

ProPublica & FRONTLINE

Doc2026

Investigates the deal behind deporting mostly-Venezuelan detainees from the US to CECOT, and what Bukele stood to gain.

The Deal: Trump, Bukele and the Gangs of El Salvador

FRONTLINE / El Faro

Doc2026

Reconstructs the 2021 Glasgow community blockade that stopped a Home Office immigration raid on Eid; Sundance 2026 Civil Resistance jury award. (Festival release - check distribution.)

Everybody to Kenmure Street

Felipe Bustos Sierra

Doc2026

Chronicles Chicago under intensified ICE enforcement, from Broadview detention protests to immigration court. (Work in progress; limited screenings.)

Shouldering Sanctuary

Chicago filmmakers

Doc2025

Follows migrants' journeys at the southern border amid the deportation crackdown.

Running to Stand Still

Bob Bilheimer & Heidi Ostertag

Book2025

Memoir by the United We Dream co-founder on growing up undocumented in Queens and building the immigrant-youth movement that won DACA.

Dreaming of Home

Cristina Jiménez

Book2025

Front-line account of Christian immigrant-justice activism from Tijuana to Arizona to North Carolina; 2026 PROSE Award.

Migrant God

Isaac Villegas

Book2025

Reporting on the Trump mass-deportation program by NBC's senior homeland-security correspondent.

Undue Process

Julia Ainsley

Film2023

A young protester flees Venezuela and fights deportation while seeking asylum in Miami; Goya-nominated.

Simón

Diego Vicentini

Doc2023

Follows a Venezuelan family crossing the Darién Gap toward the US.

Children of the Darién Gap

John Holman / Al Jazeera

Book2019

A woman survives collapse and prepares to flee Caracas — the signature Venezuelan-exodus novel in English translation.

It Would Be Night in Caracas

Karina Sainz Borgo

Music2016

Breakout single that became a diaspora anthem about leaving a partner and country behind during the Venezuelan exodus.

Me Rehúso

Danny Ocean

Music2018

Street-performed reggae song ("I Left") that went viral as an unofficial anthem of Venezuelans who fled.

Me Fui

Reymar Perdomo

Doc2021

Observational feature shot over months in Cox's Bazar documenting daily life in the world's largest refugee camp after the 2017 ethnic cleansing. (Limited availability.)

Rohingya

Ai Weiwei

Doc2026

Vérité film shot inside the Cox's Bazar camps during Ramadan, co-made by resident Rohingya activists. (Recent - check availability.)

A Rohingya Ramadan

Jidi Guo, Ro Yassin Abdumonab & Sohel Khan

Doc2021

Three young Rohingya refugees document their own camp lives through photography and social media.

Exodus

Taimoor Sobhan

Book2019

The first first-person memoir by a Rohingya author — persecution in Myanmar, flight, and years in Australian immigration detention.

First, They Erased Our Name

Habiburahman with Sophie Ansel

Doc2019

Tohono O'odham activist Ofelia Rivas as the border and Border Patrol cut through her nation's land.

Border Nation

Jason Jaacks / Field of Vision

Doc2006

The 1993 grounding of the smuggling freighter Golden Venture off Queens and the years of detention and asylum battles that reshaped US policy.

Golden Venture

Peter Cohn

Film2020

Oscar-winning short dramatizing a British South Asian family seized by a racist militia, set to Ahmed's spoken word on belonging in post-Brexit Britain.

The Long Goodbye

Riz Ahmed & Aneil Karia

Music2020

Concept album framing Britain's relationship with its South Asian population as an abusive breakup amid Brexit-era xenophobia.

The Long Goodbye (album)

Riz Ahmed

Music2012–

Tunisian-American singer whose protest work traces exile after her songs were banned at home and she left for Paris and New York.

Emel Mathlouthi

Emel Mathlouthi

Podcast2016–

Adoptee-led interview podcast by a Korean adoptee journalist — episodes include deported adoptees on race, belonging and life after removal.

Adapted

Kaomi Goetz

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