CNN's In America Unit Investigates the Controversial Immigation Debate

All this week, special correspondent and anchor Soledad O'Brien investigates the heated national immigration debate from multiple angles for CNN’s In America unit on several CNN programs. The segment summaries and programming schedule are below.

Geraldine Moriba is the executive producer for In America, CNN’s unit that focuses on untold stories in underreported communities.

Monday, 7/26 at 5-7p ET

IMMIGRATION AGENTS on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer

Soledad O’Brien gets an exclusive look at how our immigration laws are being enforced by going inside the Southeast Georgia center where the U.S. trains its immigration agents. These agents are more than a third Latino and some are legal immigrants and children of immigrants from around the world. Soledad hears why these agents have chosen to dedicate themselves to patrolling borders and arresting potentially illegal immigrants – and the efforts they make to avoid racial profiling. 
 

Tuesday, 7/27at 6-9a ET

ESCAPING AMERICA on American Morning

On Tuesday on American Morning, Soledad O’Brien will introduce us to Edwin Andrade, one of about one million illegal immigrants who want to go back home to their country of origin. Andrade thinks that living in the U.S. has become difficult because of the poor economy and anti-immigrant sentiment. But going home is not as easy as you would think. Central Americans cannot simply cross into Mexico without facing arrest or having to pay smugglers as much as $15,000 to help them cross the boarder. O’Brien reports on programs run by Guatemalans in LA and Ecuadorans in NY, which are designed to help immigrants return safely to their country of origin.
 

Wednesday 7/28 at 8-9p ET

COMPLICATED DEPORTATION  on Rick’s List Primetime

Soledad O’Brien is on set with the story of a young woman who is being deported back to Mexico after living here most of her life. Her mother has a green card and her child is a US citizen, but she was arrested at a Panda Express in a workplace raid and has no basis for obtaining a visa. Her plight shows how people facing deportations often have ties to the US complicating the picture of getting them out of the country.

Wednesday 7/28 at 10-11p ET

ARIZONA TRAINING on AC 360

Soledad O’Brien takes to the streets with Arizona’s Pima County Sheriff’s Department in Tucson to see how they will enforce SB1070, a controversial new law that will require police to ask suspected lawbreakers for citizenship status. She discovers the new law may not necessarily lead to stricter enforcement because deputies say they will not engage in racial profiling. But immigrant rights advocates insist that’s not the case – believing that the training promotes racial profiling.