UC Berkeley junior Luis Mora was detained in Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, custody at Otay Mesa Detention Center for two weeks and is now being featured in a documentary that will chronicle his experiences during and after detention.
Mora’s girlfriend Jaleen Udarbe, who is producing the documentary, said the project is expected to be completed by the end of March. It will display footage and interviews of Mora’s reunion with his friends and Jaleen’s family after his release from detainment.
The documentary will also feature Mora’s trial with an immigration judge, which is set for March 12, and will profile undocumented detainees whom Mora has helped free using the money raised from his YouCaring fundraiser. He has freed four people as of press time, according to Udarbe.
Meet Santos, the 4th person that WE freed. This was Luis’ friend from the Otay Detention Center. We were able to free him with a $3,000 bond & give him money to travel back home ?It was so nice to see these two happy to see each other again. Not detained, but now free #LuisMora pic.twitter.com/7W1THaTCUT
— Jaleen Udarbe (@JaleenU) February 21, 2018
“(The documentary is) a focus on my entire journey,” Mora said. “But I want to focus more on what’s next. I want to paint a picture of my detainment really quickly and then transition to my post-detainment life.”
The documentary will also include compilations of home videos and interviews, according to Udarbe. The film will be posted on YouTube and shared on Facebook and Twitter, she added.
Udarbe said she wanted to hold off on publishing the documentary because she wants to include footage of Mora’s trial. Udarbe said she also plans on getting other parties involved in the documentary, including Rising Immigrant Scholars through Education at Berkeley and Mora’s attorney Prerna Lal.
The documentary aims to spread awareness on immigration policy reform, according to Mora.
“I believe that the essence of the documentary, to me, is a way to continue my mission, which is to continue (to) spread awareness regarding immigration reform,” Mora said. “The issue when it comes to immigration is there is a lack of proper information, … (which creates) this ignorance between people. I hope that these issues will finally be able to be discussed and addressed at some point.”
According to a tweet from Udarbe, the community can get involved in the documentary by submitting videos of themselves saying, “Let’s free more” to Udarbe’s email.
If you want to be a part of the #FreeLuis unDocumentary, send a video of yourself saying “Lets Free More!” to [email protected] ?
— Jaleen Udarbe (@JaleenU) February 20, 2018
