The Immigration Battle Comes to America's Towns

NOW
t r u t h o u t | Programming Note

Airdate: Friday, October 19, 2007, at 8:30 p.m. on PBS.
(Check local listings at http://www.pbs.org/now/sched.html.)

Some want crackdowns and deportations, others offer sanctuary. This time on NOW.

With Washington stuck in place on illegal immigration policy, local governments are taking the matter into their own hands, shifting the cultural and political battleground from Pennsylvania Avenue to Main Street, USA. On Friday, October 19, at 8:30 p.m., NOW catches up with two New Jersey mayors who have sharply different - and politically surprising - approaches to dealing with undocumented immigrants in their communities.

Morristown Mayor Don Cresitello, a Democrat, wants to invoke a Department of Homeland Security provision that would grant his police department federal enforcement powers in dealing with illegal immigrants. "They shouldn't be here, and we shouldn't be spending that money on a population that's not supposed to be in this country," Mayor Cresitello tells NOW.

An hour away, Hightstown Mayor Bob Patten has turned his little town into a "Sanctuary City" - a place where law-abiding illegal immigrants are protected and embraced. "We don't ask people what their immigration status is now," says Mayor Patten. "We simply want to treat everybody justly, fairly. There's a due process."

NOW's David Brancaccio visits the mayors and members of their immigrant communities to uncover the impact these measures are having, and the passions that fuel them.

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