9500 Liberty: Filmmakers follow events surrounding Prince William's immigration policy

A documentary film shot during the recent illegal immigration debate that raged within Prince William County were shown Friday.

The filmmakers, whose cameras captured a contentious 2007 Board of County Supervisors vote ordering police to use “probable cause” to check the immigration status of anyone believed to be inside the country illegally, were on hand.

Two county supervisors and Prince William police Chief Charlie T. Deane, all featured as prominent characters in the film, were also there to field questions from the nearly 100 people who attended the screening at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Woodbridge.

“I feel very strongly that we lost our way during this time in Prince William’s history, and we have a long way to go in restoring the reputation of this county,” said Supervisor Frank J. Principi, D-Woodbridge.

The 77-minute film titled “9500 Liberty” begins in Manassas in July 2007, when city resident Gaudencio Fernandez wrote on the remains on a house wall about his opposition to the county’s proposed resolution aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration.

The film also captured the Oct. 16, 2007, Prince William Board of County Supervisors meeting where more than a thousand people rallied at the county’s government center on both sides of the immigration issue. The board passed the measure unanimously.

A woman who spoke at the meeting and who was subsequently featured in the film likened illegal Hispanic immi-grants to those who committed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Another man, speaking against the measure, is shown telling the board of supervisors to “look outside” of the government center “because we aren’t going any-where.”

The film also works to demonize board Chairman Corey Stewart, R-at large, who was running for re-election in 2007 when he and Supervisor John T. Stirrup, R-Gainesville, pushed to pass the resolution.

The film asserts the measure helped to spur the record housing foreclosure rate seen in Prince William in 2008, and that it was nothing more than an election-year ploy for Stewart and Stirrup.

“There were a large number of folks who stood up at that meeting — last meeting before the election — who said ‘I have great concerns about this but you should vote for this, but please approve it,’ ” said Supervisor Martin E. Nohe, R-Coles.

Nohe was criticized when the immigration measure passed, and again Friday after the film. Some, including Occo-quan Mayor Ernest W. Porta Jr., questioned the politician for voting for the resolution without, what he said was, ample time to study it.

“It seems this whole thing happened so fast, and it’s clear there wasn’t enough public participation or public input before the vote,” said Annabel Park, one of the film’s producers. “The time to talk about these things are not at the board of supervisors meetings, that’s not an open forum, they just listen and do not answer back.”

Police Chief Charlie T. Deane was painted as a hero in the film when he told county leaders his department did not have adequate funding to carry out the resolution if it passed.

Deane, a member of the Prince William police since its inception in 1970, came under fire from a local blogger — who was also featured in the film — when he accused Deane of treason after a planned meeting between Deane and a Mexican government official in March 2008.

Deane would not comment Friday on the film but told filmmakers he never considered resigning in protest during the immigration battle. But he said, “If I had seen this coming, I would have retired sooner.”
On July 1, 2008, the policy was scaled back and police were required to check the immigration status only of those who had been arrested.

The change came after the board did not approve a tax increase to fund a $3.1 million request to install video cam-eras in all county police cars — a measure Deane said would protect officers against racial profiling accusations.

The film made its Washington area debut Oct. 1 and recently won first place in the Charlotte (N.C.) Film Festival.

Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.