A local filmmaker is launching a new documentary production this weekend delving into the lives of foreign workers who are the parents of U.S.-born children and the trials they face under the immigration system.<\/p>\n
Foreign workers in the CNMI often face the prospect of repatriation to their home countries for a host of reasons yet the troubles this causes can be compounded when it happens to parents of American children, who are forced to make tough choices about what to do next.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese people are my neighbors, my friends and my kids\u2019 friends,\u201d independent filmmaker Rabby Syed said in an interview Tuesday. \u201cThese people should have improved immigration status which will allow them to stay in the U.S. and take care of their U.S. citizen children.\u201d<\/p>\n
Syed is aiming to address this issue in a new documentary film titled Witness due to begin filming in the near future and will host a gathering of parents Sunday at American Memorial Park in a bid to gain help on the project. <\/p>\n
The film, he said, will consist of interviews with parents and children. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy style will be simple and very natural because the issue is very natural,\u201d Syed said. \u201cThe people who watch will be able to put themselves in the situation of these families and share their pain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Syed plans to present the film to the U.S. House and Senate, he said, in a brand of \u201csignature campaigning through film\u201d to gain assistance on the issue for foreign workers and their families.<\/p>\n
Labor activist and former Coalition of United Workers president Irene Tantiado is also rallying support for Syed\u2019s project. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is for all parents out there who are sympathetic to this situation,\u201d said Tantiado. <\/p>\n
The meeting Sunday will take place from 5pm to 7pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A local filmmaker is launching a new documentary production this weekend delving into the lives of foreign workers who are the parents of U.S.-born children and the trials they face under the immigration system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125725\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}