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9500 Liberty screens first version of illegal immigration documentary
For those who thought the resolution passed last year by the Board of County Supervisors brought enough drama to make a movie, it turns out they’re right.
Throughout 2007 and 2008, Annabel Park and Eric Byler have teamed up to capture footage for a documentary called 9500 Liberty.
They have posted clips on the Internet throughout the last two years showing how the resolution came to be, what each side said about it and what went on behind the scenes.
Those clips have led to high emotions, particularly through the Internet, as attested by both the filmmakers and Supervisor Marty Nohe (R-Coles), who was joined at last Friday’s screening by fellow board member Wally Covington (R-Brentsville).
“I received both an e-mail from somebody who said I had sold out to a liberal agenda and an e-mail from someone who said I was clearly in the pocket of right-wing radicals,” Nohe said. “And I thought, ‘I offended everyone, so it’s a good day.’”
A full-length feature film will debut later, the filmmakers said. The first version was intended to show more of the nuts-and-bolts of policymaking.
When the screening started, about 45 people filled the Trinity Episcopal Church in Old Town Manassas, growing to about 60 by the end of the movie when supervisor Frank Principi (D-Woodbridge) declares victory following the board’s vote on a 97-cent tax rate.
While the film did not exclusively contain heroes and villains, it was quite obvious the two filmmakers had their share of disagreements with board Chairman Corey Stewart (R-at large) and Help Save Manassas president and local blogger Greg Letiecq.
Those two championed the original resolution introduced by Supervisor John Stirrup (R-Gainesville) last year, which was designed to limit services to illegal immigrants and to allow police officers to check immigration statuses of those they believed to be in the country illegally.
Police Chief Charlie Deane came out of the screening clearly as a favorite among the filmmakers. In the film’s third chapter, Deane is even labeled a “man of integrity.”
His integrity came into questions because local anti-illegal immigrant leaders thought he acted unprofessionally for agreeing to privately meet with a Mexican consulate.
However, those views were mostly expressed in messages posted online and sent in e-mails, according to Byler.
“We never found a person who would publicly say something negative about Chief Deane,” said the film’s co-creator. “Not a member of the government, not a member of the police force, not a member of Help Save Manassas, in fact.”
Byler spotted three of Deane’s detractors who, when it was their turn to speak at a board meeting, still offered respect toward the chief.
“All three were very careful to say they respect the chief while they disagree with him,” Byler said. “So I don’t think his reputation has been sullied at all. Maybe he has proven himself even more.”
The film had its share of suspense and drama, even for those who were familiar with the outcomes of each board vote.
Nohe is presented at some points in a fashion similar to a reality television show star who sits in front of a camera and talks about what was going through his mind in between clips of a particular situation.
His most prominent role comes during the climax when the board was trying to decide on a tax rate. At the centerpiece of the funding issue was the $3.1 million price tag to put video cameras in police cars. Deane has asked for the cameras to allow officers to fight the inevitable lawsuits based on charges of racial profiling.
“The whole program’s getting unbelievably expensive,” said Nohe.
Part of the problem was that the resolution had changed several times since its inception.
Originally, it called for police to check the immigration status of every person stopped for a violation. It was later changed to allow police to check the immigration status if the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect is an illegal immigrant. That variation is the one that prompted the chief to ask for cameras in the police cars.
In order to pay for the cameras, the real estate tax rate would have had to be set at 98.7 cents per $100 of assessed value. After the 98.7 rate failed on a 4-4 vote, Principi asked for a 97-cent rate on a motion to eliminate the cameras and require all immigration checks to be done post-arrest.
That failed 7-1.
Viewers find out here that during a behind-the-scenes meeting between Stewart and Principi, the Republican chairman asked the Democrat to go back on his resolution.
“There’s not a hell’s worth of chance that I would oppose it,” the Woodbridge supervisor said he responded, later adding that since their break, he had the five votes needed to get a similar version of his motion passed with fewer cameras and all immigration checks moved to post-arrest.
It passed unanimously, leading Principi, who once said the illegal immigration resolution was “essentially failing,” to tell the filmmakers on camera, “I’m going to declare victory and go home.”
The post-arrest scenario, which is what was finally adopted, means that after a person has been charged with a crime, police will investigate their immigration status. Since every person charged will be checked, there is less concern about racial-profiling complaints.
A handful of current Help Save Manassas members were present at the screening but none commented after the video ended, and they eventually walked out during a question-and-answer discussion period.
While Help Save Manassas is to the ideological right on this issue, Mexicans Without Borders is situated on the ideological left. Some of its members spoke out, with one person praising the filmmakers and another asking why the human toll of the resolution, such as the rise in underreported crime, was left out.
Byler and Park assured the woman their full-length feature would have tidbits about that.
“They’re telling the story they want to tell,” said Nohe. “There are other versions of this story that probably need to be told, as well.”
Nohe defended the most recent version of the resolution as a rational one that most people can agree on, especially since it focuses on a post-arrest immigration check.
“The new policy focuses our efforts on individuals suspected of a criminal act, beyond any immigration violation they may or may not have,” he stated.
I thought the immigration resolution got rougher and tougher on April 29th. What's this about post-arrest status checks? What's this about checking everyone and not just the foreign born?
Posted by BusTer
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When is the next screening?
Posted by BusTer
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