Despite what we read daily in the news, millions of people long to live and work in the United States, and each year tens of thousands cross our borders illegally with the hope to remain in this country. Immigration Nation probes how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) enforces the laws of the land, and the results are not pretty.

ICE granted the camera crews of directors Christina Clusiau and Shaul Schwarz behind-the-scenes access to the workdays of officers throughout the country, and may have regretted granting this permission. While some ICE personnel behave honorably and treat illegal aliens with respect, there are many scenes that will make viewers cringe.

A deputy field director in the New York area sets quotas for his teams and takes perverse delight in the roundups of illegal immigrants. The ICE officers on his teams set out to find illegal immigrants who have criminal records but often encounter “collaterals,” other illegal immigrants living with the criminal. The number of these individuals who may be taken in varies based on the changing directives of the field director and those to whom he reports. “I don’t take in collaterals,” states one officer to the film crew riding with him, but minutes later his field director tells him not to return until he has apprehended at least two more people.