Meet Ilse, an undocumented UCLA student: Scenes from ‘Vanguard’
In this scene from “Vanguard,” correspondent Mariana van Zeller meets Ilse, a senior at UCLA who is working with other students to change laws and opinions about undocumented immigrants who, like Ilse, came to the U.S. when they were young.
There are 12 million people living unlawfully in the United States. In “This (Illegal) American Life,” van Zeller explores the lives of two of them: a senior at UCLA named Ilse who crossed the border from Mexico in the trunk of a car at age 3 and a strawberry picker named Filemon who lives in an Oxnard flophouse with 19 other people so that he can send money back to his family in Oaxaca. In their stories, van Zeller finds testament to both the power of the American Dream and the absolute failure of American border policies.
“Vanguard” is Current TV’s no-limits documentary series whose award-winning correspondents put themselves in extraordinary situations to immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. Unlike sound-bite driven reporting, the show’s correspondents, Adam Yamaguchi, Christof Putzel and Mariana van Zeller, serve as trusted guides who take viewers on in-depth real life adventures in pursuit of some of the world’s most important stories.
