In March, an iPhone application designer is set to release a game titled “Smuggle Truck: Operation Immigration.” The preview of the game has created quite a controversy among immigration activists, and for good reason.
The purpose of the game is to drive a truck full of immigrants of all ages across a border without bouncing them out when the truck approaches bumps and canyons.
According to Owlchemy Labs, the designers of “Smuggle Truck,” the game intends to provide a satire about the immigration system and hopefully bring about reform. On their website, the game developer explained the origins of “Smuggle Truck.”
“This idea originated as a result of learning that the process of legal immigration was not as straightforward as we had assumed. As we lived through a painful 12 months of our friend struggling through the absurd legal minefield that surrounds U.S. immigration, we felt that we should create a game that touches on the issue,” Owlchemy Labs wrote.
Yes, the current immigration system is broken, and comprehensive reform has been severely neglected. Creating an iPhone game that depicts a serious matter in such a comical light is not the best way to address the issue.
In 2009, The Washington Post reported estimates from the American Civil Liberties Union and Mexico’s human rights agency that between 350 and 500 people died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border each year.
It’s offensive and tasteless to make a satire out of people’s pain and struggles.
Immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border face frigid temperatures, suffer unbearable heat, run out of food and water and are often sexually exploited by human traffickers. These are not situations to be taken lightly — they cannot be expressed in the smiling, bug-eyed, cartoon faces of people bouncing out of a truck bed.
Those who have lost a family member or friend due to the treacherous journey across the U.S.-Mexico border also have good reason for complaint. How would you feel if someone made a jocular and lighthearted game out of your loss? More so, what if they also made profit from it?
But as offensive as “Smuggle Truck” is, it has every right to be placed on the market.
An editorial in The Boston Globe urged Apple Inc., the company that approves applications used on the iPhone, to avoid blocking the game from sale. “‘Smuggle Truck’ isn’t for everyone,” the editorial read, “but it belongs on the market.”
If Apple Inc. blocks the application, it is risking a disastrous outcome. The First Amendment protects freedom of speech, and Owlchemy Labs is entitled to that right.
Should the game’s developers feel that they could bring about change through this offensive game, they have every right to release it.
Furthermore, those who find “Smuggle Truck” offensive can easily avoid it. The game will likely not be a cultural phenomenon that people see wherever they go. More often than not, people will play the game in the privacy of their homes or without bothering others.
Even though Owlchemy Labs has every right to place “Smuggle Truck” on the market, it doesn’t mean it should. The developers should consider how satire could be perceived as ridicule of someone’s personal pain and suffering.
In short, the game’s release is one more case for immigration reform. We should just be careful how we advocate such reform.
Emilie is a journalism freshman. Reach Emilie at eeeaton@asu.edu
