"Immigrant Nation!: The Battle for the Dream" Director Statement
Esau
many others in the United States where there are many people from
around the world and it seems like something recent. But, in fact,
these diverse groups of people have a long history and roots here. The
United States is a country that has been built by immigrants, which is
a reality that has been happening generation after generation
happening around the world since the beginning of humankind. Some
leave, others seek refuge and others simply go in search of a new
life. Yet, here in “Immigrant Nation!: The Battle for the Dream,” we
see another reality, where the “American Dream” is not within the
reach of all. This can be described as an economic, social and
political problem that flirts with racism. In contrast with previous
immigration waves, we now live in a country where the laws are
marginalizing the undocumented residents of the country.
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, this country declared two wars and
strong internal measures in the name of national security. We, like
others who have lived the reality of being an immigrant, learned that
the actions of the government would have severe consequences. And, who
were the target of these measures? Undocumented immigrants. Yet, from
this was born a movement, which began on March 10, 2006 in Chicago.
Although there had been some marches prior to that date, that day, the
problems of immigration came to head. That day people protested
shouting, “Yes we can!” “Legalization for all the undocumented” and
“We are not criminals, we are workers!”
That emotion and energy motivated me to take my camera and put aside
all my projects. I knew it was a historic moment and I felt the
responsibility to tell a part of this story. That march and the one of
May 1st of the same year were born of a community with a long history
of struggle and activism. This community asked for respect.
Presidential candidates, the English-language media and a large part
of the U.S. society had ignored the matter for a long time. Thanks to
those marches, at the very least it has become something to debate, a
news item and in some sectors, a controversial topic. Here, we seek to
tell part of that history.
In the beginning, I began documenting the marches and their
background: the organizers, those who spread the word and the ideas
that gave rise to this movement. However, I realized that we were
barely scratching the surface of this movement and that this story
truly came from the people directly affected by injustice. That is why
we decided to focus on Elvira Arellano, the woman who would take an
important role in the plot of this story.
Her activism is born from the concern for her son. Arellano, who had a
history of activism in the struggle against her deportation, filled
the movement with life after the marches when it seemed to rest as she
took sanctuary in a small church on Chicago’s North side. The eyes of
the world focused there. I began filming a press conference when she
announced her decision to take sanctuary. Afterwards, one action led
me to another and I went about piecing together this documentary with
other stories of equal importance. For example, I filmed the protest
actions of some children whose parents had deportation orders. I also
filmed other protests in response to the government’s actions against
the undocumented. Beyond a simple retelling of the news and events, we
show the people who have most affected by the measures created in the
name of national security. With this documentary we cannot delve into
the causes of immigration, but instead focus on the struggle that took
place within a determined period of time. We get away from personal
opinions to focus instead on the visual elements that take the
documentary from scene to scene.
And that is also why we took into account the anti-immigrant groups
such as the Illinois Minuteman Project. It was evident that they too
are a part of this story and that is why we decided to follow some of
their actions as long as they affected the movement we were
documenting. With few resources and much work, we started seeing the
end of this story, though the larger story of immigration reform is
still incomplete. The end of this my film takes us to Mexico where
everything began. And in the United States, we are also in a more
harmful atmosphere for the undocumented. We will not know the true end
of this story until the government changes immigration policy, if that
ever happens. What the movement did achieve is create greater
consciousness and moments that will mark world history forever.
Therefore, when we walk through the streets of large cities in the
United States and we see the rich diversity, we must say that there
was and continues to be a struggle that define it. I believe that this
story serves as a journal of one of the most important narratives of
our time: the mass movement of human beings between countries and
continents. Indeed, immigration is a phenomenon leaving no nation
untouched.
Producer/Director
Esaú Meléndez