Sheri robertson and Michael Camerini have closely followed this fight, revealing a rarely seen side of washington. Im convinced that people in both parties wanted to fix immigration, and we havent yet. Tonight, their newest film immigration battle. Frontlinis made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Additional support is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The john and Helen Glessner family trust, supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. The wyncote foundation. And by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. Major support for frontline and for immigration battle is provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. An more information is available at macfound. Org. Additional support for frontline is provided by the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. At fordfoundation. Org. And for this program, by justfilms at the ford foundation. And by the following Corporate Funding for frontline is provided by the future of surgery is within sight. Our research is studying how realtime multimodality imaging during surgery can help precision and outcomes. I was gonna have some butter, but im just gonna. Butter, yeah. Its probably a good way. I was gonna have some bread, but then things stopped me from having a piece of bread. Are you ready . Okay, lets go. Shari robertson if you try to make a documentary in washington, you can find yourself filming events without any clear idea of whats going to happen. Were following a congressman into a press conference an Advocacy Group has organized. Luis, if its okay with you, could we have a few of the stories come forward . I would love. Number one, thank you. Thank you for coming. I was really looking forward to meeting all of you. Gracias. Why cant we take. Come on. My dad, hes a u. S. Citizen. All my brothers and sisters are u. S. Citizens too, but my mom, now they want to take my mom away. Shes not a criminal. I just think its unfair to our family to suffer this way. How about. Im gonna tell this to the president. What if one day, immigration came to his house, took his wife . How would he feel . How would his kids feel . They are no one to take our families apart. applause um, well just do the best we can today because i know that were all very affected by the testimony of the children and their parents today. Ariana, you wrote this to me . You want to read it, or you want me to me read it . You. You want me to read it . It says, im ariana vivas and im nine years old. I wish my dad is here. I wanna hug him and kiss him. Fathers day is coming and my dad is not here, so i could not give him a card. I need my dad so we can go to the park. The park we used to go before and celebrate birthdays. We need Immigration Reform now to keep our families together. applause it is so difficult to, day in and day out, hear these incredibly painful stories of the destructive nature of our broken immigration system. Today, theyre gonna deport 1,400 people and were gonna leave 200 to 300 american citizen children without a mom, american citizen children without a mom or a dad. And it goes and it doesnt stop, and the Congress Talks and talks and talks and talks, but doesnt act. Im gonna continue to work with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to bring about comprehensive Immigration Reform. applause and i wanna be absolutely clear with everybody here i gotta figure out a way to get 218 votes so that we dont continue doing the kind of damage and the destruction that weve heard from the children. Mr. President , we are called today by the ancients, the founders of the republic. Are we really going to form a more Perfect Union . . Immigration reforms are always controversial. Our congress was created to muster political will to answer such challenges. Today we didnt, but tomorrow we will. I yield the floor. Michael camerini thats how our last film ended, with the collapse of an immigration bill in 2007. Eight years is a lifetime in american politics. Names are made and disappear. That bill turned out to be senator kennedys last fight on the senate floor. The end of an era, one wed been making movies about since before 9 11. The end of an era, the beginning of a polarization that would come to define congress. But in no way the end of the national fight over immigration. Robertson we left washington. We never meant to go back there. Until, well, pretty much the day after obama was reelected. The big conclusion was that the latino and immigrant vote had made his win possible. Theyve come from all over the country. Thousands flock to the west lawn today to push Immigration Reform. It was your communities that returned barack obama to the white house. We delivered the votes that delivered the states like nevada, colorado, nuevo mexico, and florida to the democrats, and these votes came with a great deal of hope and trust. cheering the time is . Now the time is . Now robertson Republican Party leaders were saying the time is now too. They saw that their partys survival might depend on fixing its image with the growing number of latino and immigrant voters. Te so finally, the stars seemed to have aligned for republicans and democrats in congress together to fix the countrys broken immigration system. Camerini by may, things are moving. In seven weeks, the Democratic Majority Senate marks up and passes historic bipartisan immigration legislation. cheering . With the toughest enforcement provisions ever put in a senate bill. And most controversially and new, a clear path to citizenship for almost all of the 11 million undocumented. The yeas on this bill are 68, the nays are 32. The bill, as amended, is passed. Camerini thats the starting gun. Now the house has to pass its version of an immigration bill. If the house fails, the senate bill expires with this session of congress, and the next congress has to start all over. So theyve only got whats left of the twoyear life of this session of congress, and its already july. Robertson so from here, what matters is all in the republicancontrolled house of representatives. Everyones expecting historic legislation. And we decided to see what would happen. We started walking those very long hallways of cannon and longworth and rayburn. A lot of things had changed since we filmed here before more bloggers, more reporters, more secrecy. Lots of doors didnt open, but we started. The need for Immigration Reform is urgent and any attempt by the house to stall on this important priority for voters will be watched closely, especially by voters from immigrant, latino, and asianamerican communities who marched to the polls last year in support of Immigration Reform. Ah, they missed the chamber of congress. That would have been good. A difficult group of people. Okay, youre on mute. Im gonna tell them that youre on. I dont even know what im. So heres what were doing. Everything youve been saying today is great. Marielena hincapie from nilc is speaking, now shes moderating, so you can chill out for a minute. But then i can hang up after i finish . Hold on, hold on, let me go through this. Im hungry. I know youre hungry. Can we getim something to eat, maybe . I would love for you to stay for q a. The reporters all want to ask you questions. Robertson this is the office of luis v. Gutierrez, democratic congressman from illinois. I believe the American People have already. Robertson what wed been looking for was the story of how House Republicans were going to fix immigration. They hold the majority in the house. And we were kind of surprised ourselves, but it turned out Luis Gutierrez was a democrat right in the middle of that republican story. Its just the hard metric thats worrisome. Camerini behind closed doors, theres an ongoing negotiation on immigration here in the house. Hes part of it. Its not worth it. Camerini its bipartisan, and its called the group of 8. But right now, things are getting difficult. So i think if possible, boss, it might be worth a oneonone conversation with judge carter before the bipartisan, just to see how much room, because i think there might be some room with him, and if we can move him. Just to say, what the hell . Yeah. Camerini a few months ago, the group of 8 was completely secret. Staff and members trusted each other. Because so much had never leaked like, there was no leaks they knew that what they were saying in that room wouldnt leak, and so they were able to be extremely honest. Like, this is where i can go, this is where i cant go, this is what i can do, this is what i think needs to be done. You know, it was in our interest to keep it kinda very, very quiet. It gave us room to work. Camerini now, they dont have that room to work. This year, the group of 8 couldnt remain a secret. There are reporters everywhere. Behind that door, theyre meeting, and theres a growing suspicion democratic leadership wants to shut it down. But as of today, the group of 8 is still negotiating and trying to put on a brave face. The next step has to be n the necessary step. Its always to put the immigrant community and the Civil Rights Movement ahead of partisan politics. And then practically, that means what . What does that mean . That means that were gonna continue. Got it, we kept it going. Lord knows this is. You know, i know the president wont be happy when he reads that were continuing to work. Robertson we were surprised that the group of 8s big problem was coming from democrats, but Party Leaders and the white house had decided that any bill from a Republican House would be too far right. Camerini to republicans, democrats effort to slow down the negotiations feel like politics, not policy. The group of 8 becomes 7, then fizzles out. For some democrats, thats good. They want the house to have no choice but to call a vote on the senate bill, with its more generous path to citizenship. And thats what advocates want too. This is a moral stand for us. Of course. How could we say were okay with us getting citizenship and were gonna say, go ahead, deport our parents . Exactly. You can just say, heres why we decided. I really just want to focus on the morality of this. Robertson they call themselves dreamers, these young people who were brought to the United States as children, grew up here and graduated from High School Like everybody else, but all without legal papers. The name dreamer comes from the dream act, a law that never passed in congress, but would have given them legal status. So as we hear and we move into the house of representatives in this fight for Immigration Reform. Robertson now theyre trying to be a political movement, lobbying for legislation on equal footing with washington insiders like frank sharry, whos been a leading voice among the advocates for longer than weve been filming in washington. Now, after an election in which republicans have been spanked by latino, asian, and immigrant voters, theyre saying, we gotta do something. Thats what Speaker Boehner said. Inaction is not an option. So lets do something. Well, heres my suggestion. The Senate Passed an important but imperfect bill on a bipartisan basis that has an inclusive path to initial legal status and an eventual and achievable path to citizenship. Right now, in the house of representatives, there are more than 218 votes for a similar bill. Its like, give us a vote, dudes. laughter our economy continues to struggle with slow economic growth, high unemployment, and stagnant wages. Obamacares raising costs thats making it harder for Small Businesses to hire. In short, its a train wreck. Camerini its like a ritual. He starts every thursday press conference this way, a quick weekly rundown of the obama administrations failures. Then the reporters change the subject. With that, ill take your questions. Why. Oh, sorry. laughter thought you were going to luke. Go right ahead, ladies first. Thank you. Um, now. He said ladies first. Ladies first. laughter remember, it doesnt cost anything to be nice. laughter why should House Republicans be in favor of Immigration Reform that possibly includes legalization or citizenship for Illegal Immigrants currently here when the argument on the senate side and among governors is its in their political interests, but in the house, just, i mean, 75 of house. We have a broken. 75 of the House Republican districts are majority white. We have a broken immigration system. We got a broken system that needs to be fixed. Robertson her question is about the truth thats dawning on pretty much everybody 75 of House Republicans dont have to worry about latino and immigrant voters. Everybody knows john boehner wants to do an immigration bill. Nobody can figure out how hell be able to. Speaker boehner, its well known you guys got your rear ends handed to you in the Latino Community in the 2012 election. What does it say to the Latino Community that the house gop is stopping this pathway to citizenship after the chamber of commerce, the rnc, many other republican groups have said its time to get this issue behind us, its time to modernize . Do you not risk putting the republicans at a disadvantage with the Fastest Growing electoral voting group for another generation . Well, i didnt know this was an opinion show here. laughter now im catching my breath. We are not going to do the senate bill. I have said. Camerini heres why he just said that. He cant do the senate bill. For his republican caucus, its too identified with president obama and the democratic senate. Even though he and the president talk regularly about immigration its a goal they share what he needs is a house immigration bill the majority of his republicans can claim as their own. But hes not going to get every republican vote, so to actually pass a bill on the house floor, john boehner is going to need some help from democrats. Look at these shirts. Theyre very similar, arent they . Yeah, they are. Nice shirts. What do you think . Blue suits, black shoes, hm . Crowd harry harry we got the memo. Give em hell, harry ladies and gentleman, Luis Gutierrez. We need to say to them, bienvenido america. Esta es tu oportunidad. cheering and so my commitment to you is to work tirelessly. We have a bipartisan approach. Ive learned from the leader in the u. S. Senate. Were working. You know senator paul ryan . Paul ryan said to me. Pretty conservative guy, huh . I think you needs to understand how critical this all is. He didnt see me in the gym two weeks after the election and say, god, you did everything you could, luis, to stop me from being vice president. Thats not what he said to me. You know what he said to me . He said, youre a catholic, im a catholic. We cannot have a permanent underclass of americans exploited in america. And so all were saying is there are men and women in the Republican Party, there are men and women in the democratic party. I ask and implore the speaker of the house, let those men and women speak and bring justice to our immigrant community. Camerini maybe youve never heard of him, but in spanish media, Luis Gutierrez is the bestknown latino politician in the United States. Robertson the thing about luis is hes a kid who was born in chicago and only spoke english until he was about 13, when his parents decided to move back to the interior of puerto rico. So there he was, a foreigner in a tiny Little Mountain village who couldnt get a date because his spanish was so terrible. He struggled for four years until his high school realized he was their ace in the National English competition. He won hands down, and that was his big start. He came back to the u. S. For college, worked as a taxi driver, and finally got into politics in chicago only after his house was firebombed because hed been protesting corruption. Camerini wed known the congressman since our last time in washington, but hes a lot more famous now. He makes his own Political Party nervous. Hes made it clear hes more loyal to immigrants than he is to democrats. Robertson to republicans who want to do Immigration Reform, hes the democrat they trust. One of those republicans is trey gowdy, exprosecutor, tea party darling, the republican chair of the house immigration subcommittee. Mr. Chairman, real, sustainable Immigration Reform has proven elusive to prior congresses, and theres an emerging consensus within this congress that the Current System is broken, and enforcing the law strikes me as a reasonable place to begin. You could leave that there if you want. Theres gonna be a legalization compent, and gowdy said for those who arrived as children. I mean, if you listen to them, theyre obviously talking about other components of a legalization program. I mean, this is a different place. Theyre not saying, this is all were gonna. They went from the party of were for enforcement only to oh, dont worry, were getting around to the other part. In other words, theres good stuff coming. Robertson its been weeks since the Senate Passed its bill, but no bill has even been introduced in the house. With the clock ticking, hes looking