Films: Swift Justice: Illegal Immigration in America

Swift Justice: Illegal Immigration in America

USA, 2009, 56 Minute Running Time
World Premiere
Genre/Subjects: Colorado, Documentary, Political, Social Issues
Program: Documentary Films
Language: "English, Spanish" English Subtitles

DIRECTOR: Mateos Alvarez, Julie Speer Hunniford
Producer: Julie Speer Hunniford, Mateos Alvarez, Sara Aderhold
Editor: Georgina Guidotti, Dutch Simpson
Screenwriter: Julie Speer Hunniford, Mateos Alvarez, Sara Aderhold, Steering Committee Members
Cinematographer: Julie Speer Hunniford, Sara Aderhold, Scott Reyes, Dutch Simpson, Georgina Guidotti, Mateos Alvarez

The raid on Swift meatpacking plants in Greeley and six other locations nationwide in December 2006 by agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau (ICE) ignited a heated debate about the place of undocumented workers in the United States and their exploitation by employers. More than 1,200 workers were arrested, and many have been held in legal limbo ever since as their cases are sorted out – while others were immediately deported back to Mexico and Central America. Human rights advocates accused law enforcement officers of casting the workers as dangerous criminals, noting the atypical and unusually public steps of not only long-term incarceration but also burdensome fines imposed before deportation. A Swift official’s description of the raids (or “enforcement actions,” as one district attorney calls them) makes clear that ICE had planned its sweep with the single goal of making Swift an example for other companies.
Co-producers Mateos Alvarez and Julie Speer Hunniford of the activist media group Little Voice Productions explore the context and ramifications of the raid through interviews with people on both sides of the issue, from the impact on families coping with legal troubles and sudden loss of income to the arguable morality of current immigration statutes. Among the dozens of people interviewed are law enforcement personnel, immigration lawyers and reformers, the immigrants themselves, and the former mayor of Greeley, Tom Selders, who was defeated in the 2008 election largely because of his antiraid stance. Swift Justice premiered in Greeley in July of this year.

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