When I traveled to Arizona with Ishita to create Checkpoint Nation, I wrote: It was the first time I had experienced the overwhelming size of the desert sky. The sunset was magnificent, and the endless stretch of cacti and desert rocks were lit up with the last pink moments of twilight. But the sunset’s beauty [...]

December 15, 2011 by Dana Variano | Tags: Arizona, border deaths, crisis, Derechos Humanos, desert, documentary, DRUM, homepage, human rights, human rights crisis, immigrants, immigration, International Migrants Day, Mexico, migrants, No More Deaths, U.S. Mexico Border, Vamos Unidos, video | Comments Off

Originally posted on our Restore Fairness site Early one morning, Maria—then nine months pregnant—and her family were stopped by the police for no discernible reason. A special breakfast outing became a nightmare—and at one of the most intimate moments of her life, Maria found a team of immigration agents—not her husband—by her side. Maria’s chilling story, which Breakthrough [...]

September 8, 2011 by crissy spivey | Tags: Arizona, b-listed, breakthrough beat, Checkpoint Nation, immigration, Mexico, Restore Fairness, Rights Working Group, SB 1070, video | Comments Off

Post written by Dana Variano, Breakthrough’s newest media team member It was the first time I had experienced the overwhelming size of the desert sky. The sunset was magnificent, and the endless stretch of cacti and desert rocks were lit up with the last pink moments of twilight. But the sunset’s beauty was overpowered by [...]

August 25, 2011 by Dana Variano | Tags: ACLU, Arizona, BAJI, Border Justice, Border Patrol, Border Policies, Border Wall, breakthrough, Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, DRUM, homepage, human rights, immigration, Mexico, Nogales, Operation Streamline, racial profiling, Sasabe, SB 1070, Secure Communities, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, U.S. Mexico Border, Vamos Unidos | 1 Comment »

Tonight at 9pm/8c, Current TV will premiere This (Illegal) American Life, a one hour documentary about the millions of undocumented students and workers in the United States.  The show follows the lives of Ilse, an undocumented American Literature major at UCLA who crossed the border at the age of 3, and Filemon, a strawberry picker [...]

August 1, 2011 by Maya | Tags: Arizona, breakthrough, California, college, current tv, documentary, farmworker, immigrant, Mexico, oaxaca, premiere, struggle, students, this (illegal) american life, undocumented immigration, vanguard series | Comments Off

We know you’ve been waiting for Harry Potter forever, but make sure you support the film A Better Life! Undocumented stories are being told.  Just recently, award-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas came out of the shadows.  For years, the Dreamers – the students actively fighting for the Dream Act – have been sharing their stories.  And now,  A Better Life is bringing [...]

July 12, 2011 by Maya | Tags: A Better Life, b-listed, breakthrough, Chris Weitz, Demian Bichir, Eric Eason, father, film, future, gang, Hope, illegal immigrant, immigrant, invisible, Jose Julian, Los Angeles, Mexico, promise, Roger L. Simon, son, struggle, undocumented immigrant | Comments Off

From our Restore Fairness blog- They’re the backbone of our food supply. Their hands sliced the chicken breast we had for lunch. Their sweat brought the fresh tomato to our plates. Their backs bent to pick the lettuce in our salads. They are America’s undocumented workers. Every day, on farms and factories across America, millions [...]

November 23, 2010 by ishita | Tags: 287g, agriculture, blog, capitalism, cnn, deportation, detention, dignity, due process, enforcement, exploitation, Fair Day in Court, family, farm workers, Feminism, Guatemala, homepage, human rights, immigration, Injustice on Our Plates, justice, Medicare, Mexico, poverty, Race | Tags: agJobs, refugees, Social Security, Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC, Thanksgiving, undocumented women, undocumented workers, United Farm Workers, women's rights | Comments Off

Every year, from September 15-October 15, the U.S. observes National Hispanic Heritage Month during which we celebrate the histories, cultures and contributions of Americans who trace their ancestry to Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. This observation was initiated as Hispanic Heritage Week in 1968 by President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded [...]

September 23, 2010 by ishita | Tags: b-listed, breakthrough, Caribbean, Central America, George Lopez, guide to, Hispanic Heritage Month, Latina, Latino, Library of Congress, Mexico, National Gallery of Art, National Hispanic Heritage Month, President Lyndon Johnson, President Ronald Reagan, Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Magazine, South America, Spain | Comments Off

This summer and fall in NYC, check out the Indocumentales/Indocumentaries film series about immigration and US/Mexico relations.

May 13, 2010 by Annie | Tags: Al Otro Lado, Arizona Immigration Law, b-listed, because we found it, breakthrough, immigration, Immigration Equality, Indocumentales/Undocumentaries: The US/Mexico Interdependent Film Series, Mexico, NYU, SB1070, Sinaloa | Comments Off

From the Restore Fairness blog. Courage comes in many different forms. For Esmeralda, a transgender asylum seeker from Mexico who faced horrific circumstances in immigration detention, it came in the form of seeking justice. Kept in a segregated cell with other transgender detainees, Esmeralda never realized that her experience in detention would match the trauma [...]

November 11, 2009 by ishita | Tags: asylum seeker, blog, Department of Homeland Security, deportation, detention, due process, Esmeralda, immigration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, immigration detention, immigration video, Just Detention International, LGBTQ, Mexico, President Obama, Secretary Janet Napolitano, sexual abuse, sexual violence, survivor, transgender | Comments Off

Betsy Perry has been known as a respectable leader in the realm of strategic marketing and brand consulting, and a member of the Bloomberg administration’s Women’s Issues Commission. But her recent piece in “The Huffington Post,” in which she goes off on an outrageously bitter rant against all things Mexican, may well have turned many [...]

May 6, 2009 by anisha | Tags: Betsy Perry, Bloomberg, freedom of speech, Huffington Post, immigrants, immigration, Mexico, Women's Issue Commission | Comments Off