Borderland: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

Al Jazeera America presents Borderland, a new original series in which average Americans are confronted with the realities of illegal immigration while retracing the footsteps of dead border runners.

Six Americans are tasked by a frontier medical examiner with retracing the footsteps of three dead migrants — three of the nearly 6,000 illegal immigrants who perished in the desert in the last 15 years while crossing from Mexico. Gathered at the morgue, the participants are handed three case files and told, "We've given them a name. You must give them a story." The six, from all walks of life, first explore the issue on the U.S. side, embedding with law enforcement and Arizona ranchers angry at the cartels that now control not just the drug trade but the migrant routes as well. Then, split into three groups, they head for Mexico and Central America, learning about the lives of the migrants they've been asked to follow. In a twist, the medical examiner instructs the six to work their way back to the United States alongside real migrants by whatever means necessary … on river rafts, on foot through gang-controlled jungle and, once regrouped, on top the infamous cargo train known as La Bestia. Finally, from cartel-held Sinaloa state, they attempt the journeys that proved fatal to their assigned migrants — a dangerous trek through the hot badlands. They'll live. But will they learn?

Series details

• Title: Borderland
• Format: Documentary
• Language: English
• Premiere date: 2014-04-13
• Final broadcast date listed: 2014-05-04
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: Al Jazeera America
• Network country: United States
• Typical episode runtime: 60 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 9873

Cast and credited roles

• Alison Melder — Alison Melder
• Gary Larsen — Gary Larsen
• Lis-Marie Alvarado — Lis-Marie Alvarado
• Kishana Holland — Kishana Holland
• Randy Stufflebeam — Randy Stufflebeam
• Alex Seel — Alex Seel

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 2014-04-13; final listed air date 2014-05-04.

Source and licence

Adapted from Borderland on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.