30 Days Season 2, Episode 1 – “Immigration”
Introduction: The premise of the show is to give people a “crash course in empathy” by having them move in with
someone different than them in some way. The experiment is to see whether people can come to understand those on
the other side of an issue. Let students know that they are going to watch an episode called “Immigration,” in which "a
border-patrolling minuteman" moves in with an undocumented Mexican family for a month.
After the first 2 minutes answer the following questions
1. What are the two sides to the immigrant debate?
2. We are told that a “patriotic minute man vigilante” is going to move in with a family of “illegal immigrants/illegal
aliens.” What do these terms mean?
3. What took place in 2006 that created even more controversy around the immigration debate?
4. The introduction ends by noting that our country has typically been known for “offering the world a place of
refuge and a shot at the American Dream” and asks, “is the dream over?” What do you think?
5. What predictions do you have regarding this episode? What do you think will happen when the minuteman
moves in with the family of illegal immigrants?
After 5:10 answer the following questions
1. What have you learned thus far about Frank George? Why, when and how did his family come to the US?
2. What does Frank say the foremost problem with immigration is?
3. Overall, what is your first impression of Frank?
After 18:50 answer the following questions
1. What does it mean to be “undocumented”? Why is this not the case for Ricardo and Karena?
2. Why does Armida argue that Frank is a hypocrite? How does he defend himself?
3. What is the American Dream to Armida? To Frank? How are Armida and Frank alike? How are they different?
After 27:40 answer the following questions
1. Armida complains that Frank’s view of leaving and coming back legally is “not so simple.” Why is she frustrated
with Frank’s views?
2. What internal conflict does Frank start to experience? What causes this?
3. At the time of this episode’s filming, the US Senate was debating an immigration bill that would provide a path
to citizenship for illegal immigrants. What is Armida’s opinion regarding this bill? What is Frank’s opinion?
At the end of the episode answer the following questions
1. Why haven’t Patty and Rigo seen their parents and families over 12 years? How does this affect them?
2. In what way does Frank relate to Patty in this moment?
3. What does Frank learn during his trip to Mexico? What is he surprised by?
4. In what ways does Arimda think Frank has changed?
5. Overall, what can we learn from this episode? How does it connect to what you have been learning about?