An eye opening depiction of a side of Israel that is rarely seen in the news, Do They Catch Children Too? brings attention to the plight of Israel’s non-Jewish immigrants. Directed by Emmy-Award-winning filmmaker Hedva Galili-Smolinsky, the documentary captures the everyday experiences of children who struggle to fit in to Israeli society within families that have been torn apart by lapsed visas.

“Do you lack anything?” asks the hardworking mother of Katia, an immigrant from the Philippines. “We lack a dad,” Katia replies. She is one of many children whose fathers are have been sent back to their countries of origin, or sit in Israeli jails, because they lack the residential visa required to stay in Israel legally.

Non-Jewish immigrants to Israel, a growing demographic, not only have to deal with being outsiders to the culture but also encounter immigration problems that Jewish olim [immigrants] do not. Because of Israel’s “Law of Return,” Jews are welcome to move to Israel without applying for a visa. But this law does not apply to non-Jews wanting to make a go of it in the Jewish State. As in America, immigrants must get the necessary permissions to move to Israel. But it is not always possible for both parents to secure visas, and, unlike in America, children’s residential status is tied to their father’s, even for those children born in Israel to immigrant parents.

Do They Catch Children Too? presents the immigrant perspective of this issue, documenting the daily struggles and uncertainties of several foreign-born children. Aged seven to thirteen, the kids are candid and honest about their feelings, and animated and excited in front of the camera. Their behavior, childlike and innocent one moment, showing an anxiousness and maturity of experience beyond their years the next, demonstrates the complexity of their relationship to life in Israel. The country is at once giving them an opportunity for a better life, and threatening to take that opportunity away.

The documentary’s opening scene brings this dichotomy home. In the safety of their own home three young Filipino boys play as little boys do, roughhousing and jumping on each other. But the scene they act out, a twist on cops and robbers, belies their seemingly carefree attitude. One of them is an illegal immigrant, and the others are trying to catch him.

The film takes its title from the fears expressed by one of its young subjects, a Filipino boy named Ryan, whose father’s visa has expired. “Police, they scare me,” Ryan says and wonders if they “catch children, too,” as they do adults who are in the country illegally. Indeed, as the documentary makes clear, they do. Ryan’s fears are rooted in reality. Since his father’s visa expired, he has been sitting in jail and there’s a good chance he will be deported back to the Philippines. If he is, there’s also a good chance Ryan will have to go with him.

From Israel’s perspective, this new influx of immigrants is a double-edged sword. The worker at the international calling center, where the foreigners frequently go to call back home, expresses it well. On the one hand, Israel is providing a service to these immigrants, giving them opportunities and in many cases social services, but the immigrants also provide valuable labor to Israel. The relationship is co-dependent and, in the eyes of this particular worker, Israel is not giving its immigrants a fair deal.

Since it presents the immigrant perspective, Do They Catch Children Too? is not a balanced documentary. Israel is a relatively young country, and non-Jewish immigration from poorer countries is a relatively new phenomenon, so Israel is just beginning to grapple with the immigration issues that so many democratic, relatively prosperous countries must face. In Israel’s case, the difference in treatment between non-Jewish immigrants and Jewish ones makes the situation even more complex.

But the documentary is successful in its portrayal of these issues from a human perspective. It highlights the significant and often ignored contributions of non-Jewish immigrants to Israeli society and the need to closely examine Israeli immigration law.