President Barack Obama is refusing to visit the turbulent U.S.-Mexican border, where a flood of illegal immigrants continues to overwhelm the region.
Instead, Obama will visit the home of Austin-based filmmaker Robert Rodriguez this week as part of a trio of Texas fundraisers (as originally noted in The Hollywood Reporter). The Austin visit features tickets ranging in price from $5,000 to $32,400. The July 9 fundraiser also will feature actors Rosario Dawson, Danny Trejo and Jessica Alba.
Both Trejo and Alba star in Rodriguez’s ultra-violent Machete franchise. The first film in the series demonized a politician (Robert De Niro) who sought tight border control as well as a Minuteman-style American who delighted in shooting a pregnant Mexican woman.
Alba’s character, a champion for immigrants’ rights, utters the following line in the first Machete feature:
“We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us.”
Rodriguez previously cut a trailer for the film aimed at mocking Arizona’s illegal immigration laws.
Neither Machete nor its sequel, Machete Kills, delivered at the box office. The first film earned $26 million domestically, but the follow-up made a measly $8 million.
Note: Post updated to include source of PJ Media’s original report–The Hollywood Reporter.
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