What does it mean to be an American?

Is it defined by being born in a place? Is it the color of your skin? Is it the papers you carry? Is it marked by the desire to defend the Constitution? Or is it to be a Tea Partier?

More important, can a person who crosses the border illegally be an American?

Our politicians don’t think so. They want to banish 460,000 people, some of whom have lived here for decades, for not having the papers to prove that this is where they belong.

I have seen the anti-immigrant climate escalate over the past three years as I’ve worked on a film about the politics of immigration in Maricopa County with director Dan DeVivo. And recently we created wwww.90daystoPhoenix.com to document the three-month period before SB 1070 goes into effect on July 29, barring a successful court challenge.

Latinos have a reason to be upset, worried and even fearful about a law that is breeding hatred and resentment against them.

Yes, I know there are provisions in SB1070 supposedly intended to prevent racial profiling, but the other language of the law encourages it. I donʼt believe that all police officers in the state want to racially profile people. But they are required to enforce SB 1070, and if they don’t, their bosses–the cities, counties and the state itself–face citizen lawsuits.

The police find themselves between a rock and hard place.

Just watch this video of Juan Miguel Gonzales, a U.S. citizen whose wife was detained and deported after they were pulled over for a questionable traffic infraction last month. Despite being a U.S. Citizen he feels this will result in his own “deportation” because now he has to leave Arizona to reunite with his wife.

Other harsh immigration laws in the state target the economic migrant and mistakenly racially profile Latinos citizens too. Such cases have already made their way into federal courts in Arizona.

A law like SB 1070 didn’t happen overnight, it took a long time for politicians to convince Arizona voters with the idea that we are being invaded by “illegal aliens” who sell drugs, cause mayhem and take American jobs and deplete public benefits.

These lies have become sound bites that voters believe. In truth, crime is down in Arizona and unauthorized migrants are barred from most public benefits.

For more information on the 90DAYSTOPHOENIX project, click here.

This is part three of an ongoing series of videos I’m using with permission.

90DAYSTOPHOENIX.com is an independent media project that has been documenting Arizona’s ongoing struggle to “sift through the truth and lies behind the immigration debate.” Journalists, photographers, filmmakers and others are working together to give a real-time on-the-ground account of Arizona’s controversial new immigration law – SB 1070 – scheduled to take effect July 29.

Another goal of the project is to show as large an audience as possible how this new law will effect people throughout the state.

Seven people were arrested by Phoenix Police on Thursday outside the U.S. District Court in Phoenix while the federal government was presenting arguments against the new law that makes it a state crime to be an undocumented immigrant. Activists are calling for widespread nonviolent actions all across the state on the day the law goes into effect.

For more information on the 90DAYSTOPHOENIX project, click here.

Another goal of the project is to show as large an audience as possible how this new law will effect people throughout the state. This is part two of an ongoing series of videos I’m using with permission.



Civil Rights Attorney, Richard Martinez explains how Arizona’s SB 1070 differs from Federal Immigration Law.

Martinez is one of the attorneys involved in two lawsuits representing police officers in Phoenix and Tucson that believe the new law would force them to violate the U.S. Constitution. It would specially put them in a difficult situation when they come in contact with minors on schools, said Martinez.

“There’s nothing that protects minors, it compels all persons there’s no age distinction on 1070,” he added.

The first hearing took place last Thursday in front of judge Susan Bolton. The impact to students was raised as a key concern by the litigants.

The law, which now faces a federal suit, has been called one of the ‘toughest legislations in the nation.’ It means that all immigrants in Arizona must now carry their alien registration documents and it means that police can question anyone they think may be in the United States illegally. It will also address people that knowingly hire illegal immigrants or who transport them.

In two separate hearings in a Phoenix courtroom on Thursday, attorneys representing a broad coalition of civil rights groups and the U.S. Department of Justice argued that portions of SB 1070 need to be enjoined because they usurp the federal government’s authority to regulate immigration law. Judge Susan Bolton gave no indication of when she might rule on the case.

While we wait for a decision, I will (with permission) be re-posting some of the videos produced by the 90DAYSTOPHOENIX project.



In this video, independent journalist, Valeria Fernandez, put’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s 287g illegal immigration enforcement powers into perspective. What is 287 County? 287g County, aka Arizona’s Maricopa County, is the home of 500,000 undocumented immigrants. They account for about 8% of the state’s workforce. In the wake of a series of new laws that target undocumented labor and empower the local police to enforce federal immigration laws, immigrants and their families are subject to daily persecution. In Maricopa, Sheriff Joe Arpaio has the largest police force in the nation enforcing a section of immigration law known as 287(g) that allows the federal government to deputize local police to act as immigration agents.