Monday, April 19, 2010

Treatment: The Truth About America's Undocumented Citizens

In this documentary I would like to touch the hearts of mainstream assimilates and politicians to give them a peek at the hardships many immigrant parents and children face. After a small scale rally in the city of Chicago and hearing the stories of immigrant children’s’ hopes and dreams being destroyed, the viewer will get a close look at the larger scale issue in our country. Following a rally in Washington D.C. with approximately two hundred thousand attendees, allies and undocumented citizens will have enhance the magnitude of this issue. Some of whom are scared to step out of their own home, to high school valedictorians that cannot receive financial aid for college, even though they invested their time and life into our educational system. Even a reverends opinion on the issues, as well as administrators that aid in the process of becoming a civilian and assisting immigrant’s, to children of broken families due to deportation. The film will point out personal stories of those affected by the broken immigration laws of America.

Throughout American history we see a revolving door of racism and discrimination dating back to the late 1700’s during the slave trade, to the recent racial profiling of Middle-Eastern men and Muslims after the September 11th attacks. I would ask you if this acceptable behavior, but the most obvious answer given would be no, but why has nothing progressive been done? Then why was the mass murder of approximately 12 million Jews and minorities during the Holocaust a tragedy? Why were thousands of Japanese Americans sent to internment camps during the Pearl Harbor attacks? Why was the mistreatment of millions of Africans and blacks during the civil rights movement a staple in American history? These are all questions and issues that once again resurface and make way through that revolving door.

Surely, the questions with immigration reform are critical and should be dealt with in a delicate manner but, nonetheless, something must be done soon. In the wake of the drug war along the border, American’s must ask themselves if letting others emigrate is a crime? Why is it so difficult to become a citizen and raise a family? Why should parents and children live in fear everyday of being torn apart and deported? Why are immigrants the scapegoats for stealing ‘our’ jobs? So what can America do to solve these issues and find an answer? We must go through this trying revolving door to find an answer? America the land of the free, where anyone can be prosperous, perhaps is not what we may think it is.

My aim in this documentary is to find that All-American-Individual that my viewer can identify with. The viewer may perhaps be more able to identify with someone that they have common ground with, such as an exemplimary student trying to go to college, or a faith-filled extreme Christian that believes every neighbor should be treated, as they would like to be treated. This should not only touch the hearts of those watching the film but it should make them want to take action on a crucial issue that affects us all directly and indirectly. We semi-unconsciously see the truth of dual labor markets and scapegoating, we even see the process of immigration in documentaries, movies, and the news, what viewers do not see is the everyday battles these hard-working people face. Viewers need to ask themselves “how would I fight through this battle?” Perhaps since my viewer may be a young legal citizen, the viewer may want to take action to change the immigration reform of this vicious tiresome cycle.

Raw footage of immigrants and allies’ efforts at the Chicago Rally for Immigration Reform and the rally in Washington D.C. can show the large-scope issue at hand, and also gives a visual as to how many this affects. Structured interviews with undocumented ‘citizens’ will give a voice to the voiceless. A brief history of immigration laws and its development or lack thereof will help to make a sound argument; articles, news clips and archives will aid this portion of the documentary.

I am the product of a family of immigrants. My mother came from Puerto Rico and though the land is American territory it was also very poor and undeveloped unlike the rest of the states. My grandmother did this as a successful attempt to make a better life for her and her children. My father journeyed through the rough terrain from the south crossing the United States-Mexico border. I can only imagine how these issues affected him so, that he has never mentioned his journey, the only thing he has ever mentioned is how proud he is that his daughter, me, is taking action on this topic. I am so disappointed at the 65 thousand undocumented young adults that graduate high school each year and cannot attend college because of the finances, or the several thousand families that are broken each day because of deportations. This film will uniquely address these issues and aid the viewer in personally identifying with the subject.


We will soon have a mission statement up and photos of the rally in Washington D.C.