The marks left behind after a massive May 2008 immigration raid in Iowa are well known by those who have visited the tiny town of Postville; but, according to a new documentary from PBS, the impacts don’t end at city, state, or even national boundaries.

The 15-minute documentary, produced by Mexico City-based Greg Brosnan and Jennifer Szymaszek, follows deported Guatemalans from Postville back to their home country and provides insights as to why they chose to illegally enter the U.S.

More than 200 of those detained are thought to be from El Rosario and San Jose Calderas, two villages just a few minutes apart in Guatemala’s poverty stricken western highlands. The money they were sending back to their relatives had mostly sustained both villages. Now these breadwinners were either in jail or under house arrest in Postville, and awaiting deportation.

The raid had severed an economic lifeline linking the heart of the United States to one of the poorest corners of the Western Hemisphere, with an impact that had far-reaching consequences.