two women

Description

It's estimated that there are 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. Millions of them were brought to the country as minors and graduated from American high schools. These self-proclaimed Dreamers advocate for the DREAM Act, legislation that would grant them a path to natural citizenship. Yet the DREAM Act has already failed in the Senate multiple times and the debate over immigration reform is only getting more heated. President Obama, a DREAM Act supporter, issued Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals this past summer. DACA applies to the same group of people, but does not grant them a path to legalization - only a two-year deportation reprieve with citizenship-like benefits, such as work papers and the opportunity to apply for driver's licenses and financial aid. The reprieve is renewable, though, if it does not get repealed. This documentary strives to inform the public about the issues surrounding immigration reform and DACA through the lens of two women at the forefront of the debate. Nataly is an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador who was taken across the border when she was 4-years-old. She's now 22, a student at Baruch College, and holds a full time job to pay for college. She's a DREAMer and considers America her home country. She's applied for deferred action in the hopes of receiving financial aid for school, work papers, and the option to apply for an advanced parole to travel back to Ecuador to visit her family. Joanna is the founder of NY ICE, the only anti-illegal immigration organization in New York City. She became passionate about the issue of illegal immigration after she was stalked by an undocumented immigrant. He threatened her with a gun and she went to INS in hopes of getting him deported. After INS refused her request she began to research the issue of illegal immigration further. When she found no advocacy group for her cause, she started her own. She believes in securing the borders, enforcing the immigration laws already on the books, and protesting further amnesties. These are two women, two activists, on different sides of the same fight.