In August 2001, when the Bush administration and key leaders in Congress were readying the plans for a sweeping overhaul of America’s troubled immigration system, filmmakers Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini were there to record history in the making—negotiating exclusive access to document the lives and strategies of the principal players. The resulting “Grand Bargain” promised to change the lives of tens of millions of immigrants and affect every citizen and every state in the union. Its eventual failure offers lessons for what a future, successful bargain might look like.
Robertson and Camerini join Esther Olavarria, a key player in the film series, and CGD senior fellow Michael Clemens, for an exclusive look at never-before-released scenes and a discussion on lessons-learned from the “Grand Bargain” era, pointing to what is possible for future, bi-partisan immigration policy.
Event Video
Featuring
Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini
Filmmakers of How Democracy Works Now: 12 Stories
Remarks and introductions by
Michael Clemens
Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development
With discussant
Esther Olavarria
Former Immigration Counsel to Senator Edward Kennedy
About the Film Series
How Democracy Works Now: Twelve Stories is a 12-part documentary film series that reveals the fight for immigration reform on Capitol Hill and across the country with unprecedented access and intimacy. The story spans the critical years 2001 to 2007. How Democracy Works Now premiered on HBO with the broadcast debut of The Senators' Bargain on 24 March 2010. A directors' cut of The Senators' Bargain was featured in the 2010 Human Rights Watch Film Festival at Lincoln Center, with the theatrical title Last Best Chance, along with Story 2: Mountains and Clouds. The series is detailed at howdemocracyworksnow.com.