Thread: N.C. - Rockingham County sheriff to show movie on illegal immigration

By McClatchy News Service
Published: Monday, October 8, 2012 at 09:35 AM.




WENTWORTH -- Sam Page, the Rockingham County sheriff who has been an advocate of tighter security along the border between the United States and Mexico, plans to host a viewing Monday of “They Come to America,” a documentary about illegal immigration.

The goal, Page said, is to motivate people to lobby members of Congress to do something about illegal immigration. Asked what he thinks should be done, Page said he supports comprehensive immigration reform – legislation that would deal with the estimated 11 million to 14 million noncitizens in the United States without authorization.

Mass deportations, Page said, would not be an effective way to deal with the issue.

“In the U.S., you can't just deport 14 million people. There is going to have to be some type of fix for the long term. ... When are we in America going to fix our immigration policy?” Page said. “It is my hope and wish that people will call Congress and ask them to fix this issue for the long term.”

Among those who have been invited to the showing are Sens. Kay Hagan, a Democrat, and Richard Burr, a Republican, as well as U.S. Rep. Howard Coble, R-6th, and state Sen. President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, a Republican.

The viewing will be held at the theater on the Rockingham County Community College campus, officials said, at 215 Wrenn Memorial Road in Wentworth. The doors will open at 6 p.m. and the movie will start at 6:30 p.m. The theater holds 300 people.

The documentary, according to Kevin Suthard, a spokesman for the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office, deals with both sides of the immigration issue. It highlights crime but it also tells the story of an immigrant and why he entered the U.S. illegally, he said.

Efforts to get a comment from the director, Dennis Lynch, about the movie were unsuccessful.

In a video recorded during an immigration forum two months ago in Wilmington, Lynch had this to say about illegal immigration: “There's not just people coming over who want to cut your lawn. There are people who are coming over who want to cut your throat.”

Moises Serrano, an immigrant activist who was raised mostly in Yadkin County but does not have authorization to be in the U.S., said that such quotes make him skeptical that the movie takes an evenhanded approach to the issues – and he plans to attend the showing.

Planning to join Serrano are members and supporters of the advocacy group, El Cambio, which was started in Yadkin County and also has members in Surry County as well as Winston-Salem and Greensboro.

“Our purpose is to really be the watchdog for our community,” Serrano said. “We want to make sure that our families are not being painted as criminals, and we will take any actions necessary to dispel the myths, such as that we don't pay taxes.”

Rockingham County sheriff to show movie on illegal immigration - Region/State - The Times News

Moises Serrano, an immigrant activist who was raised mostly in Yadkin County but does not have authorization to be in the U.S.,

So why is this person still here?

My friend attended this event tonight. She decided to leave a couple of minutes before the movie ended in order to get in line to purchase some dvd's of the movie. While in the hallway when she was trying to leave, she said there was a group of hispanics who appeared to be trying to start trouble. She said they were somewhat disruptive during the movie showing, too. My friend also said there was a tv crew there as well as someone doing a radio interview with Sheriff Page. She thinks the tv crew left before the problems in the hallway, but she wasn't sure. She had to get a deputy to get them to move so she could leave the building.

I think wfmy news 2 will have a news piece about this event on tonight's 11pm broadcast if you're in their viewing area.

Rockingham Co. Sheriff's Office Hosts Documentary Screening About The Cost Of Illegal Immigration

12:20 AM, Oct 9, 2012 | 1 comments

• 

Written by

Liz Crawford

• FILED UNDER
• Local & State

Rockingham County, NC--The Rockingham County Sheriff's Office hosted a documentary screening called, "They Come To America: The Cost Of Illegal Immigration."
The screening was Monday, Oct. 8 at 6:30 p.m. at Rockingham Community College; it's part of a nationwide tour.
Dennis Lynch is the film creator.
More information: "They Come To America: The Cost Of Illegal Immigration."
The Sheriff's Office said that the documentary is strictly informational and educational, not political.
News 2's Liz Crawford saw part of the film and talked to Rockingham County Sheriff, Sam Page prior to the screening about the film.
News 2 also talked to an undocumented immigrant who said the film doesn't tell the whole story.
Moises Serrano is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. His parents brought him to the US when he was a baby.
He said, "I feel that it's painting my parents, my family, my relatives, and my community as criminals and as people who are trying to mooch off of the system and as murders and rapists."
Inside the auditorium on the Rockingham Community College campus, roughly 200 people showed up to hear from Sheriff Same Page and watch the 2-hour documentary.
The film asks average men and women across the country how immigration affects their communities. Rockingham County Sheriff, Sam Page feels like it's his duty to make citizens aware of the drug trade connected to illegal immigration and the threat of violent crime. The film also points the finger at politicians for running away from the issue.

"Be aware that we do have a failed immigration policy in the united states and if we don't talk about it and we don't encourage our congressmen to fix it, where will we be five , ten, fifteen years down the road?," said Sam Page.

The Sheriff said that politicians have been putting band-aids on the immigration issue. He wants to trigger conversations about long-term solutions.

Two Traid immigration attorneys were also at the screening. Like Moises Serrano, they felt that the documentary was one-sided and a sheriff should not be hosting a screening.

News 2 received an update from the Rockingham County sheriff after the screening. Towards the end of the film, there was a 50-person protest. It was led by members of "El Cambio", an immigration activist group out of Yadkin County.

The group was shouting and chanting for about 30 minutes. With Monday being Christopher Columbus Day, they were arguing that Columbus too was an illegal immigrant.
WFMY News 2

Rockingham Co. Sheriff's Office Hosts Documentary Screening About The Cost Of Illegal Immigration | digtriad.com

there's video at the link

By: Lalata Payne | Reidsville Review
Published: October 09, 2012

A shouting match erupted Monday night between members of a Yadkin County immigrant rights organization and people attending a screening of a controversial illegal immigration documentary at Rockingham Community College.

Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page, a supporter of tighter security along the border between the U.S. and Mexico, sponsored the showing of “They Come to America: The Cost of Illegal Immigration” by Dennis Lynch. The sheriff’s office said the documentary highlights crime, but tells the story of an undocumented immigrant.

Members of El Cambio, which translates to “The Change,” came in droves to speak out against the film, which they said offered a one-sided view of illegal immigrants.

“We came out to participate in the screening and take our message to the sheriff that this documentary doesn’t truly represent the value of immigrants and their struggle,” said Moises Serrano, who grew up Yadkin County, but is not authorized to be in the country. “Immigrants want to be a part of the community. We’re hard working and we want jobs just as much as every other person.”

Page defended the screening of the film, saying he did so to show the people in Rockingham residents how illegal immigration affects their lives.

“Over the past 10 years, issues have been rising in our community due to illegal immigration,” Page said. “Drug trafficking is a major part of the problem… The majority of drugs that come through North Carolina come from Mexico through Atlanta and up the Southeast. People are directly seeing the backlash from that in Rockingham County.”

Lynch’s film includes interviews with border patrol agents, undocumented immigrants, immigration attorneys, lobbyists for minority and Latino rights, as well as people who live on the Mexico border. Viewers inside the auditorium at RCC were clearly divided on the issue and could be heard booing or clapping when certain issues arose.

Stokes County resident Ramona Timm talked to Serrano after the showing. She said later she didn’t know much about Serrano’s situation, but she felt like her side of the issue wasn’t heard.

“I just can’t say this movie is an outright lie,” she said. “I told him it’s not the fact that they were brought here by their parents – that’s not their fault. But I wanted him to know this issue is bigger than him or me. I cried when that young man disappeared in the film. It’s criminal when I think about the drug trafficking and the human trafficking. I really blame the government of Mexico.”

Forsyth County resident Kim Porter is a supporter of El Cambio. Attending Monday’s documentary was a way for her to find out what arguments the other side is making against illegal immigration, she said.

She said she didn’t understand why the showing was sponsored by local law-enforcement officials.

“I’m very concerned about what message this film is bringing to the public,” she said. “I’ve heard from many places that some towns and cities won’t even show this film because it’s conflicting information.”

Members of El Cambio gathered outside the auditorium to talk to people as they left. Page asked everyone to go outside, but not before handing out his card to several members of the group. He said they could call him if they had concerns.

“Regardless of which side anyone is on concerning this issue, they are welcome,” Page said. “If we have the community to come together, we can do something to solve the problem of illegal immigration. If we don’t’ come together, nothing will change.”

One Old Vet

Tensions run high at showing of movie about immigration | JournalNow.com

Illegal aliens fragrantly showing up to harass American citizens and law enforcement without fear of justice. Their mob rule tactics are now so brazen that they deploy them in the heart of North Carolina.

W

ADDED TO ALIPAC HOMEPAGE News with amended title ..

http://www.alipac.us/content/tension...igration-1023/

Not taking up for Commissioner Kallam, BUT - he has been undergoing some pretty serious cancer treatments which could be a contributing factor to his making such off the wall comments. It is not in his character. I've heard the man speak at many commissioner meetings, and have personally conversed with him on occasion. This comment is extremely out of character for him. He's a decent person and has served the county well. Even the republicans around here like him - which says a lot. I guess I am taking up for him after all.

Rockingham commissioner, immigrant activist disagree on 'joke'

Credit: BRUCE CHAPMAN/JOURNAL


A crowd viewed "They Come to America: The Cost of Illegal Immigration" at Rockingham Community College in Wentworth on Monday. Outside, tensions ran high as members of El Cambio, an immigration activist group, protested the film.




Related







By: BERTRAND M. GUTIERREZ | Winston-Salem Journal
Published: October 10, 2012
» 2 Comments | Post a Comment
A Rockingham County commissioner on Monday asked a Yadkin County immigrant activist if he would be available as a target as the commissioner tries to fulfill his quota of shooting three people.
To the commissioner, it was a joke.
To the activist, it was an act of intimidation.
The exchange happened between Commissioner James Kallam, who is in his late 60s, and Moises Serrano, in his early 20s, a leader of the immigrant advocate group El Cambio, which has members in Yadkin, Surry, Forsyth and Guilford counties.
They were at Rockingham Community College after a screening of the movie "They Come to America: The Cost of Illegal Immigration." Outside the theater, tensions ran high as El Cambio members protested the movie.
Separately, Serrano and Kallam were having what they both said was an amiable conversation in a small group.
At one point, Serrano said, he told Kallam that he knows firsthand that the movie portrays the immigration issue unfairly because he is "undocumented."
Serrano, recalling the conversation with Kallam, on Tuesday gave this account of their exchange:
"Did you know I'm illegal, too?" Serrano recalls Kallam saying.
Serrano, skeptical, slowly said, "OK."
"Yeah, that man right there is illegal," Kallam said according to Serrano, then Kallam pointed to another man in the group.
Again, with some hesitation, Serrano said, "OK."
"That man's only shot two people, and the law states you have to shoot three people. And I've only shot two people," Kallam said according to Serrano.
Then, according to Serrano, Kallam asked: "Are you available?"
Kallam then patted Serrano on the shoulder and told him he was just joking, Serrano said.
To which, Serrano replied, "I don't know you well enough. I don't know your sense of humor. Maybe after we get to know each other better you can joke with me like that."
Ann Marie Dooley, an attorney at McKinney, Justice, Perry & Coalter in Greensboro, who said she attended the screening as a legal observer, corroborated Serrano's description of the exchange.
"I have never experienced something like that," Dooley said. "It was just like, 'Why would this be funny?' "
For his part, Kallam, who is running for re-election among six candidates for three seats, at first tried to give the impression that the exchange never happened.
"I don't know what he's talking about," Kallam said.
After more details of the conversation were provided to him, Kallam said, "I don't recall. If I said that, I was only joking."
When told in detail how the conversation would appear in the Winston-Salem Journal and that an attorney had confirmed the conversation, Kallam also confirmed the exchange, saying he meant no harm.
"He knows I was just joking with him," said Kallam. "I have compassion for these people. … I even shook his hand at the end and said, 'Hey, you know it's just a joke.' I'm not that kind of guy. I wouldn't do anything to hurt anyone. … I don't even carry a gun."
Zane Cardwell, 56, who also is running for a commissioner seat, said that the "joke" should have never happened.
"It's not a joking matter. I don't joke around like that," Cardwell said. "When I walked out of there last night, I heard people chanting and it felt like that tension was pretty high. Sometimes it's better to listen than to talk. Cooler heads have got to prevail. Sometimes it's better to say nothing."
Other candidates — Mark Richardson and Keith Duncan — said they preferred not to say anything because they didn't hear the conversation.
Efforts to reach all the candidates were unsuccessful.
Serrano, who said he is trying to set up a discussion forum in Rockingham about immigration, was shaken but would welcome a second chance to talk with Kallam.
"I have never felt that intimidated my whole life," Serrano said. "I will sit down with anyone who is willing to sit down and hear what I have to say. I would sit down with him because he is an elected official and in a position of power."

bgutierrez@wsjournal.com (336) 727-7278

Rockingham commissioner, immigrant activist disagree on 'joke' | JournalNow.com

comment from an attendee:

Ramona Timm · Top Commenter
I felt intimidated when three and four people at a time started yelling racist lies about Columbus and about the Europeans stealing land from the Indians...It is impossible to talk much less answer so many people at once...A less experienced person who has not spoken before crowds and in packed rooms would feel threatened...
The movie did not lie...unless you discount people that have personally experienced life threatening situations in their homes and work places...
The protest group came after the movie started and left the auditorium before the movie ended...how is that a fair judgment of the veracity of what was presented?
Reply · · 4 hours ago

Immigrant group demands apology from Rockingham Co. commissioner

Posted on: 8:11 am, October 12, 2012, by Joe Borlik

Moises Serrano, a Yadkin activist, and Commissioner James Kallam (The Winston-Salem Journal)

ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.C. — United We Dream, a nationwide network of immigrant advocacy groups, demanded an apology on Thursday from the Rockingham County commissioner who said he was only joking when he asked a Yadkin County immigrant activist to be his target in his effort to fulfill a quota of shooting three people.
The Winston-Salem Journal reported that Commissioner James Kallam declined to offer the apology.
The demand for an apology stems from an encounter that happened at Rockingham Community College on Monday between Kallam and Moises Serrano, a Yadkin activist who has lived in the United States since he was about two but is not authorized to be in the country.
Serrano was among other members of the regional immigrant advocacy group, El Cambio, attending the screening of a documentary on illegal immigration to express their view that the film portrayed the immigration issue unfairly.
As tensions ran high outside the theater after the film, Kallam and Serrano were talking in a small group. Serrano said at one point, the commissioner, while pointing to another man, said: “That man’s only shot two people, and the law states you have to shoot three people. And I’ve only shot two people. Are you available?”
Read more: The Winston-Salem Journal.

Immigrant group demands apology from Rockingham Co. commissioner | MyFOX8.com