Historically, immigration has been a prevalent concern in the United States, impacting the stratification and disparities we see within our social institutions today. Despite our nation’s legacy of immigration, contemporary immigration and its policy reveal the barriers and challenges that have been placed by existing inequalities in America, inevitably shaping a culture of exclusion and assimilation. One way to illustrate is to consider the documentary film 9500 Liberty shot in Prince William County, Virginia during a large population growth in 2007. The documentary exposes racial tensions as Prince William County implements an illegal immigration enforcement policy which required police officers to inquire about the citizenship or immigration …show more content…
In 9500 Liberty, Greg Letiecq, controversial blogger and President of Help Save Manassus, utilized his blog and his organization as a platform to make significant changes to the immigration policy in Prince William County. The ‘immigration resolution’ began simply through community interaction as citizens began to generate a divided social identity, ultimately producing a ‘them’ versus ‘us’ mentality. Through a micro-level perspective 9500 Liberty reveals the impact of one person on the controversial issue of immigration, galvanizing the community of Manassus and the Board of Supervisors of Prince William County to unanimously adopt a new illegal immigration policy. One way this can be seen is to consider the impact the policy had within the community of Prince William County. For instance, a 2009 evaluation of the Prince William Immigration Policy reports that there had been fewer people loitering at day labor sites, fewer births in the local hospitals, and fewer English language learners in schools, suggesting that less than 5000 immigrants, both legal and illegal, left the county by the end of 2008 (Police Executive Research Forum, 2009). In brief, 9500 Liberty, reveals the links between the action taken place at the local level, the power of politics and the impact social influence can have on