Professor Nina Alvarez’s Film Almost American Re-Released: How the Government Moved to Strip Protections from 600,000 People — and the Fight That Stopped It
The PBS documentary from the Columbia Journalism School professor tells the story from the inside — with evidence never seen in any courtroom — premieres for free on PBS YouTube March 26.
On March 16, the Supreme Court agreed to hear two Temporary Protected Status cases on an emergency basis, scheduling oral arguments for the second week of its April 2026 session. The cases, which concern TPS designations for Syria and Haiti, have been consolidated. The outcome will affect the status of an estimated 1.3 million people currently living and working in the United States under TPS protections.
On March 26, Almost American (LPB/VOCES, PBS) arrives on the PBS YouTube Channel. Directed by journalist, documentary filmmaker, and Columbia Journalism School professor Nina Alvarez, the film documents the legal and human story of the first Trump administration's attempt to terminate TPS for El Salvador — a fight that reached the federal courts and produced an extraordinary documentary record. That record is now directly relevant to what the Supreme Court will consider this spring.
The film follows the Ayala Flores family, Salvadoran-Americans from Washington, DC and among the plaintiffs in Ramos v. Nielsen, as they navigated the courts over five years — 17 years in the United States, with US-born children and family members facing potential return to El Salvador during a period of severe gang violence. The case produced over 20,000 pages of internal DHS documents through court-ordered discovery, as well as depositions of career officials and political appointees from Ramos v. Nielsen and Saget v. Trump (Haiti TPS litigation from the same period). Alvarez obtained the deposition video over the course of two years and drew on interviews with dozens of government sources. The plaintiffs ultimately did not prevail in Ramos.
Almost American had its PBS broadcast premiere in 2024. Its arrival on PBS YouTube on March 26 coincides with the most consequential moment yet in the ongoing legal debate over TPS — as the Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments that will shape policy affecting more than 1.3 million people. Arguing those cases will be Ahilan Arulanantham of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law and Emi MacLean of the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, the legal team at the center of Ramos v. Nielsen.