The Other Side of Immigration (2009)

Based on over 700 interviews in Mexican towns where about half the population has left to work in the United States, The Other Side of Immigration asks why so many Mexicans come to the U.S. and what happens to the families and communities they leave behind. Through an approach that is both subtle and thought-provoking, filmmaker Roy Germano provides a perspective on undocumented immigration rarely witnessed by American eyes, challenging audiences to imagine more creative and effective solutions to the problem. "There are inevitably real people behind the strident slogans and ideological labels in today's immigration debate. Roy Germano's The Other Side of Immigration does more than any other work to give people otherwise disparaged as 'threatening' and 'illegal' a human face and to reveal the devastating personal effects of U.S. immigration and economic policies on our closest neighbors." - Douglas S. Massey, Princeton University