Press Release

MEDIA ALERT

“BORDER” FILMMAKER CHRIS BURGARD REVEALS FOUR POINT PLAN TO HELP SOLVE THE IMMIGRATION CRISIS – SCREENING/FORUM IN LOS ANGELES ON MAY 6TH HAS INVITED PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES TO WEIGH IN ON ISSUE

LA RADIO HOSTS JOHN KOBYLT AND KEN CHAMPEAU WILL HOST BENEFIT SCREENING FOR AGENTS RAMOS AND COMPEAN OFFERING POLITICAL CANDIDATES A FORUM TO DISCUSS IMMIGRATION HOT POTATO.

May 6th Screening Event at L.A.’s prestigious SkirballCenter  will feature a panel discussion on possible solutions to America’s failed immigration policy with Mexico. “Border” filmmaker Chris Burgard offers his “four step” plan to S.T.O.P. the crisis. 

(For Immediate Release)                  (Contact: Steven Jay Rubin at (213) 300-1896)

     (Los Angeles)  Despite election year promises, will America’s presidential candidates ever act to fix America’s immigration policy with Mexico and the dangerous state of our southern border?  Filmmaker Chris Burgard, whose award winning, feature-length documentary: BORDER, presents a searing portrait of our porous border with Mexico (the film is currently in DVD release through www.bordermovie.com), is screening his film at Los Angeles’s Skirball Cultural Center on Tuesday night May 6, 2008. Burgard is calling on the presidential candidates to offer their views in a panel discussion, with all proceeds from the event going to the National Border Patrol Council and the legal defense fund for U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Joseph Compean. 
In a call to action, Burgard is revealing a forward-thinking four-step plan to repair our immigration policy with Mexico and, challenging panelists to offer alternative plans or join him in a quest to make our borders safe.
Burgard is not a learned politician; he is just a filmmaker who believes in common sense and helping those who need it. In the nearly three years since he has been documenting the southern border and subsequent national crisis, none of our presidential candidates have stepped forward to rescue American border ranchers or act to put a stop to the routine rapes of Mexican women in the borderlands. In this election year, Burgard feels that he can stand silently no longer.

     This is Chris’ S.T.O.P. plan, revealed here for the first time:

1)  Secure the border.  Give the U.S. Border Patrol and local law enforcement the needed tools to bring law and order to the border.  Supply them with the money, equipment and manpower that they need to save American ranchers from the narco-mercenaries that are destroying their property and profiting from human and drug trade and the sea of immigrants who are destroying the environment and affecting livestock. At the same time we can then put a stop to the rapes and other assaults on Mexican women who are crossing in the desert.  To facilitate this, we may need to: A) Build the four layer fence in high traffic areas to work as a force multiplier for the rank and file Border Patrol agents, and B) Deploy either National Guard or Federal troops to confront narco-mercenaries head-on where needed, until the Border Patrol is completely up to speed.

 2) Tax: Tax wire transfers that go back to Mexico. $23 billion was sent to Mexico from the United States last year.  That’s a lot of money leaving the country and the economy ($62 billion if you include all of Latin America and the Caribbean).  A remittance tax could easily be collected wherever wire transfers of money are purchased.

3) Oil for social services:  Start billing Mexico for the social services incurred by undocumented Mexican immigrants, including education, incarceration and medical care.  For every day a Mexican national is in a U.S. hospital, school or prison, bill the Mexican government one barrel of oil.  The business of America has always been business. We are providing services, why aren’t we billing for them?  Since we need the oil and Mexico has it, we can come to a simple and practical business solution. Mexico may be cash poor, but they are one of the five richest countries in natural resources on the planet. Mexico is one of our top three importers of oil and natural gas. We may not all immediately agree on what to do with the 12-20 million people that are already here, but we will all need to put fuel in our cars and heat our homes while we have an informed debate and figure out a compassionate answer.

 4) Post the Bond:  Instead of giving their money to a human trafficker, once the border is secure, we establish a guest worker program where immigrants post a bond at a legal port of entry at the border.  Immigrants will check in at the front door. Now we know who they are. We know why they are here, and we know that they are healthy and not a burden on the U.S. medical system. While they are in the U.S. working, a percentage of the foreign national's pay goes back to the bond account.  By the time their work visa is over, they now have a large chunk of cash sitting in that account. The foreign national collects that money and goes home. If they are even a day late in going home, that sizable chunk of cash is forfeited to law enforcement. Money is what drives the vast majority of people to illegally cross the border. Money is what will encourage visa compliance.
This program separates the drug dealers and criminals from the immigrants seeking honest work.  I believe that this will only work effectively if we bid out the bonding program to a private American corporation like American Express or Visa. At any given time, Fed Ex can tell me 24/7 where my package is anywhere on the planet while the Federal government has lost track of 12-20 million people.  The downside to this program is that employers will be forced to pay an exploited work force competitive American wages and related benefits.

      In addition to the presidential candidates, Burgard is inviting panelists to the May 6th event from the U.S. Border Patrol Council, the National Council of La Raza, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Mexican Consulate General, the Los Angeles Mayor’s office, and the Governor’s office to attend the May 6th event which will be hosted by John Kobylt and Ken Champeau of KFI Radio’s “John and Ken Show.” Monica Ramos, wife of imprisoned U.S. Border Patrol agent, Ignacio Ramos, will attend.   
The Skirball Cultural Center is located at 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd (at Mulholland) in Brentwood.  The event begins with a screening of “Border” at 8:00 p.m. on May 6th. 
A $25.00 per ticket donation is requested.  All proceeds will go to the Border Patrol Agent Legal Defense and Relief Fund and be earmarked for Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who are currently serving time in Federal Prison for defending themselves against an armed illegal alien drug smuggler.
Tickets can be purchased at www.bordermovie.com
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