.png)
1 month ago
9 ARTICLE AD
Sicario and Traffic star Benicio Del Toro has spoken out against the dehumanizing aspect of the debate around immigration in the lead-up to the U.S. presidential elections.
The actor was pressed on the topic during a masterclass on his career at France’s classic film-focused Lumiere Film Festival.
“You can’t group people and say they’re all bad people. For the most part, what I know is that most of the people that are trying to get to America, they’re trying to improve their lives, because there’s problems in their hometowns, or wherever they come from, they’re trying to better their lives,” he said.
“That said, I think that borders have to be respected, but when you group people and you put them in a position where they become subhuman, then that’s really scary. I don’t subscribe to treating anyone like they’re less than human because of the color of their skin, because of their religion, because of their origin or whatever.”
Del Toro’s comments come as the debate on how to control U.S. borders hits fever pitch in the lead up to the presidential elections, with former President Donald Trump repeatedly declaring debunked blanket claims around migrant groups.
These include his assertion in his televized debate with rival presidential candidate Kamala Harris that immigrants were eating household pets in Springfield, Ohio. The claim was immediately fact-checked and debunked during the debate, but Trump’s words have continued to resonate through the Springfield community.
“Politics is a dirty game,” said del Toro. “It’s a tough situation right now, and there’s a lot of people that suffer because of it and it has to be put in check. So, hopefully, there’s going to be an election, and let’s see what happens. But I trust in the younger people.”
The masterclass veered into the topic of U.S. immigration debate, following conversation about del Toro’s appearances in a raft of films tackling the U.S. drug wars and the cross-border battles with the Mexican cartels.
