Hollywood Turns the Camera on Alabama Immigration Enforcement Law
On Wednesday, February 15, acclaimed director Chris Weitz (“A Better Life,” “The Golden Compass,” “About a Boy”) will unveil a new fim series (“Is This Alabama?”) that turns the lens on Alabama’s harsh anti-immigration law, H.B. 56, and the Center for American Progress will release the report “Alabama’s Immigration Disaster: The Harshest Law in the Land Harms the State’s Economy and Society,” by journalist Tom Baxter, which goes even more in-depth into how this law is destroying the fabric of Alabama’s society and economy.
Pulitzer Prize-winning undocumented journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, who has spent a considerable amount of time in Alabama amplifying the stories of immigrants in the state, will lead the discussion on the film, the report, and the effects of the law.
On June 9, 2011, Alabama enacted H.B. 56—the most extreme state-level anti-immigrant bill passed to date. The act, designed to make every aspect of life unbearably difficult for undocumented immigrants living in Alabama, deploys fear as a weapon to marginalize and oppress an unwanted population just as segregationist policies did 50 years ago. It has been nine months since the law’s passage and its path of destruction is still palpable from children too afraid to come to school to potential economic losses of up to $10.8 billion.
Adding to the cacophony of voices opposed to H.B. 56, including leaders from the civil rights, faith, education, and business communities, is a new and notable voice: Hollywood.
The Center for American Progress, along with America’s Voice Educational Fund and Define American, invites th epublic for a closer look at the consequences of this extreme law.
Who: Chris Weitz, Director, “A Better Life”
Jose Antonio Vargas, Writer, Pulitzer Prize winner, and founder of Define American
Tom Baxter, Columnist, Saporta
Report Angela M. Kelley, Vice President for Immigration Policy and Advocacy, Center for American Progress
When: February 15, 2012, 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. ET
Where: Center for American Progress 1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor Washington, DC 20005
KJ