大象传媒

James Naughtie travels to Arizona to examine the deep roots of the current political moment in the United States.

In this first episode of two, he considers the political debate over immigration and the border crisis. He looks at how a state law passed 14 years ago prefigured the rise of Donald Trump, and stimulated a political movement amongst young Arizonans against his politics. On the border with Mexico, James meets migrants, humanitarians and ranchers to understand the problems caused by a failure to effectively secure the border or efficiently process migrants. And he meets political leaders - those who have held power both in Arizona and in Washington, DC, to investigate how the politics of these issues have made compromise and successful policy outcomes - for either left or right - impossible.

Throughout, he explores how these modern political divisions lie along deep historical divides, and how the more either side presses for a 'win', the more divided the country becomes.

Producer: Giles Edwards
Assistant producer: Patrick Cowling.