Film: 9500 Liberty

A Virginia county’s battle over random immigration status checks.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


In July 2007, the board of supervisors of Prince William County, Virginia, passed a resolution that allowed police to check the immigration status of anyone they suspected of being undocumented. 9500 Liberty chronicles the ensuing battle between the county’s sizable Hispanic population and folks like the founder of the group Help Save Manassas, who casually compares immigrants to invading Huns. Drawn from footage that filmmakers Annabel Park and Eric Byler shot and posted in real time on YouTube, this moving film (named after the location of anti-racist murals) follows how this local controversy turned into a national Rorschach test for attitudes about immigration reform and race.

The film’s climax comes during a showdown at a 13-hour county meeting. White supporters of the resolution rail against crowded neighborhoods and soaring crime rates, and urge everyone, “Don’t ever forget 9/11.” Opponents, including the white police chief, argue that immigrants are vital, taxpaying members of the community. “Don’t confuse 9/11 with the 7-Eleven,” says one speaker. “The guys at the 7-Eleven just want to work.” After several months, the resolution was repealed, but Prince William’s immigrants had already gotten the message: Toward the end of the film we see empty storefronts and abandoned homes in what were once vibrant neighborhoods.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate