On Location for Anti SB1070 Protest at Arizona State Capitol
© 2012 Deep Focus Cinema

Five months since its release, the feature documentary film The Immigration Paradox has posed many important questions worth considering about the contentious topic of immigration. Director and producer Lourdes Lee Vasquez sought to bring about just that when she began working on the documentary in 2005. Now, the film has ignited a larger and more in-depth discussion on the various issues and debates surrounding immigration and immigration reform.

Just recently, the documentary’s production team began publishing “conversation starters” each week to get leaders and community members talking about immigration reform in the United States and its ramifications on those directly and indirectly affected by legislation. Each “conversation starter” is a short clip compiled of interviews from the feature–length film plus additional content not included in the theatrical cut, which offer various perspectives on the topic of immigration. Since the 13^th of this month, three videos have been uploaded and include the questions of “Morality vs. Reason – What do we do about immigration reform?” “Has blaming each other gotten us anywhere?” and “Why aren’t we finding long term solutions?” all of which are worth discussing, especially at such a crucial time as now. Currently, the United States is foreseeing the possibility of a comprehensive reform passing in Congress given that President Obama already publicly presented his plan for reform in Las Vegas just last month. You can view a detailed outline of this plan on the National Immigration Law Center’s website.

The short clips are published on the Immigration Paradox’ YouTube channel and are shared weekly on the TIP Movie’s social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. You can Like or Follow them to stay up to date with the conversation. If we all do our part to stay informed, we will be better prepared to knowledgeably contribute to the highly politicized discourse of the century. Share your thoughts on immigration reform by commenting or sharing this blog and the TIP Movie’s short clips with your friends and family. Let’s keep this conversation going!