'Bordertown' uses archetypes, comedy to undo stereotypes about Latino immigrants

Cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz grew up near the U.S.-Mexican border. His father was a gardener and his mother cleaned houses for San Diego's middle class.

They were both hard working and making an honest living.

So when the creator of the new animated show, "Bordertown," asked him if it would be stereotypical to have the Mexican immigrant lead in the show be a gardener, he said: "No way."

"I lived it. It's the (story of the) hard-working Mexican immigrant," Alcaraz told Fox News Latino on Wednesday. "His job is that we used to call the 'Mexican job.' That's the immigration story for many people."

"Bordertown," airing Sundays on Fox, tells the story of Bud Buckwald, a dunderheaded Border Patrol guard who fears his American Dream is slipping away from him. Next door lives the Gonzalez family with patriarch Ernesto, who has a thriving landscaping business.

It doesn't shy away from touching on major issues that are being discussed on the national stage, like immigration, Border Patrol, drug issues, the American Dream and the immigrant experience in the U.S. The first two episodes focused on a stringent immigration bill passed in the town of Mexifornia and a proposed wall to be paid for with confiscated drug money.

Alcaraz, who created the first nationally syndicated political Latino daily comic strip, "La Cucaracha," is a writer and consulting producer for Fox's new show.

"I would pitch the most Mexican thing and it would go into the show," Alcaraz said, adding that they even have one on "Sabado Gigante." "It's really exciting to see things we've been joking about in our community for so long (on television)."

The show's creator, Mark Hentemann, who is also a show-runner for "Family Guy," said he takes the opinions of Alcaraz and the other Latino writers on staff very seriously.

"When I got the greenlight (for the show), I knew that this show was going to be half Latino. I wanted to bring it writers who grew up in the community, in the border," he told FNL on Wednesday. "I wanted authentic voices in the writers' room."

Hentemann's inspiration for the show started by listening to his father talk about how he and several brothers arrived to the U.S. in the 20s from Germany and how they worked several jobs to make ends meet. He said he wanted to do a modern version of "All in the Family" – "an honest comedy about the changes in the U.S."

"It has a lot of impact on me, hearing that all the time," he said. "My immigration story was very close to me. We are a country of immigrants."

Setting the story along the border seemed like a no-brainer for Hentemann as the country's growing diversity is heavily influenced by Latinos.

"It's fertile territory for satire," he said. "I wanted to use archetypes and have them break stereotypes... I wanted to show the reflection of the new America."

Both Hentemann and Alcaraz jokingly said they did not consult with presidential candidate Donald Trump - who has made immigration and a wall along the border an important aspect of his campaign - but both relish in that he made sure it was in the political discourse.

That said, it's not about attacking anyone, they said, but instead highlighting the bigotry and resentment that still exists in the country because of the growing number of immigrants.

"We show that these attitudes are kind of pathetic," Hentemann said.

"Bordertown" airs on Sunday nights on Fox.