The US Department of Internal Security is analyzing a reality show proposal in which immigrants would compete with each other by American citizenship.
The challenges would be based on American traditions and customs, according to Tricia McLaughlin, department spokesman. She said the proposal is in the initial phase of analysis and has not yet been evaluated by Internal Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
According to the presentation obtained by the Daily Mailwhich revealed the story, each episode of reality would have a “cultural inheritance challenge”, a “elimination challenge,” a “meeting in assembly” and a “final vote.”
Twelve participating immigrants would arrive by boat to Ellis Island in New York and travel the United States on a train called “The American” – the name proposed for the program.
Along the way, the competitors would participate in typically American challenges, such as panning gold in San Francisco, competing for an equilibrium test on Wisconsin, and setting up the chassis of a Ford model T in Detroit, according to the Daily Mail.
The final episode would show an “winner” being officially naturalized as an American citizen at the Capitol steps in Washington.
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“The proposal, in general, was a celebration of being American and the privilege of being able to be a citizen of the United States of America,” said McLaughlin.
The series was designed by Rob Worsoff, screenwriter and producer born in Canada. He said he came up with the idea during his own process of naturalization in the United States.
According to Worsoff the challenges should be performed in several states. One of them could, for example, highlight NASA in Texas or Florida to test which of the immigrants could assemble and launch a rocket first.
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“We need a national conversation about what it means to be American,” he said. “We need to be remembered of pride and honor of being American.”
Worsoff also stated that no one would be penalized in his immigration process or deported as a result of participation in the program. “I think this is bullshit,” he said about the idea that there would be penalties.
“What will happen is that we will meet these people, their stories and their journeys, and we will be celebrating them as human beings,” he said. “We are giving these people a face, their trajectories.”
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In an interview with Wall Street JournalThe writers also denied that the program was equivalent to the “Hunger Games” for immigrants, referring to Suzanne Collins’ dystopian novel, in which participants struggle to death to survive. “It’s not, ‘Hey, if you lose, we’ll send you out of ship out of the country.”
Also according to Rob Worsoff, the details of what would happen in the program depend on the interest of television networks and what the internal security department (DHS in English) would be willing to do.
Under the leadership of Kristi Noem, the agency has adopted strategies aimed at advertising and TV -like formats to publicize Donald Trump’s rigid measures against immigration.
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In the first government of the Republican, the department had collaborated with filmmakers in content production. In 2017, DHS allowed filmmakers to have access to operations of the Immigration and Customs Service (ICE) for the program called “Immigration Nation”. (With international agencies)
