In 2010, the Arizona Senate passed controversial immigration law SB1070, also known as the \u201cpapers please\u201d law, igniting a national maelstrom. Supporters call it a common sense law-enforcement tool; opponents feel it will inevitably lead to racial profiling. Neighborhoods empty, businesses shutter, and immigrants flee the state. Those who choose to stay organize boycotts, mass demonstrations, daring acts of civil disobedience, and prepare families for the possibility of separation by sudden deportation.<\/p>\n
Mixing in interviews with footage of heated protest rallies and television coverage, the film tells the stories of Arizonans on all sides of this divisive issue \u2014 activists, politicians, Latino immigrants, ranchers, controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the newly empowered Tea Party movement, for whom illegal immigration is a flashpoint subject \u2014 depicting a state and its people testing the edges of our democratic values.<\/p>\n
Arizona\u2019s enforcement-led policy, which grew out of its unique position as a frontline border state, is reshaping the national conversation around immigration reform. With dozens of states considering a similar approach, The State of Arizona<\/i> holds up a mirror, asking Americans who they are, and who they want to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The turbulent battle over illegal immigration in Arizona that came to a head with Senate Bill 1070 frames this riveting documentary that tracks multiple perspectives as America eyes the results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":9928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"topic":[1220,1264],"class_list":["post-290","films","type-films","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","topic-immigration","topic-race-ethnicity"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n