Trinity graduate Roy Germano does it all. He holds a Ph.D. in government and a master of arts in international relations, is a social scientist, and holds the Woodward Chair in Public Policy at Sarah Lawrence College.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Germano’s life is his filmmaking ability. Since 2011, Germano, THS Class of 1998, has produced and directed documentaries that tackle the complex and sometimes perplexing issue of immigration in both America and Mexico. His films shed a different, perhaps more humanizing light, on the issue, without leaning left or right.

ECHO: First of all, why use film to spread the word about immigration issues?

Germano: Back in 2007-2008 I was doing research in Mexico, collecting statistical data on the money Mexicans in the U.S. send home to their families. But I was seeing and learning many things in my fieldwork that I couldn’t capture with a standardized survey questionnaire or analyze with statistical software. One day it occurred to me that I should start filming my experiences in Mexico and try to edit the footage into something I could use to educate people about my research.

E: Why tackle immigration? What separates issues involved in immigration from other big issues in the world, like the war on drugs or other political themes?

R: Immigration is an issue that’s at the intersection of so many other interesting issues, like economic development, culture, language, national identity, agriculture, law, public health, human rights, education, human trafficking, civil war — you name it. In that sense, it’s such an exciting issue to work on.

E: Your films revolve around Mexico in some way. What originally drew you to Mexico?

R: I waited tables in Chicago about 10 years ago. Many of my co-workers — the cooks, busboys, and dishwashers — were from Mexico. They told me all about their lives in Mexico, why they immigrated illegally to the United States, how they spent days walking through the desert to get here. I wasn’t getting this perspective anywhere else. I was intrigued and wanted to learn more. A year later, I received a research grant that allowed me to spend a lot of time in Mexico. I fell in love with the culture, the food, the music and the people. My second film is more about these cultural aspects. I’m now working on a new documentary series for VICE called “Immigrant America.” It’s more U.S.-focused.

E: Your film “The Other Side of Immigration” sheds light on exactly what the title says — the other side. Why do you think it is so important for Americans to be shown this “other side”?

R: Understanding the root causes of Mexican immigration can help Americans make sense of some of the demographic changes that have been occurring across the country over the past 20 years. Many people have told me that the film changed their perspective on the immigration issue.

E: There’s a pivotal line in “The Other Side of Immigration” in which one of the interviewees says the main cause for many Latinos wanting to come to the United States is the lack of opportunity in Mexico. Is there something that may have caused this lack of opportunity, or is it just an ongoing problem that has snowballed?

R: Much of the influx that we saw in the 1990s and 2000s was caused by economic transition in Mexico. The North American Free Trade Agreement, for example—which has been good for the Mexican economy overall—exposed smallholder Mexican farmers to foreign competition for the first time. They simply couldn’t compete with big, efficient, mechanized U.S. agribusinesses. There were no jobs or social programs in Mexico to help those displaced by U.S. competition, so millions fled to the U.S., where there were plenty of jobs for them to do.

E: Do you believe there is anything that can be done about the “lack of opportunity?” Many believe that to solve a problem, you must start the solution from where it all begins. If the main reason Latinos are coming to the U.S. to provide for their families is the lack of opportunity in Mexico, could a possible solution to some immigration issues be to help Mexico thrive?

R: The Mexican economy is growing and fewer people are immigrating illegally these days. A large share of the people still immigrating here illegally do so as a last resort and with a temporary stay in mind. For this reason, I recommend expanding/creating guest worker programs that give people the opportunity to immigrate legally on a temporary basis in order to save some money and then return home (where many prefer to be anyway). But guest worker programs don’t help us figure out what to do about the roughly 11 million people who are here illegally. I think most of these people should be given some sort of legal status, if not a path to citizenship. My most recent film, “The High Cost of Deporting Parents,” sheds some light on why I think this.

E: The United States spent $18 billion on immigration enforcement in 2012. Adjusted for inflation, the U.S. now spends 15 times as much on immigration enforcement as it did in the mid-1980s. So, the U.S. is obviously spending this money to get immigrants out, yet once immigrants are deported, many of them try to come back to the U.S. again and again. This seems like a vicious cycle for both sides involved. What solution would you propose?

R: People usually come back after being deported because they have families here. Often their kids are U.S. citizens (in fact, 4.5 million U.S. citizen have a parent who is undocumented) and their spouses have some kind of legal status, if not citizenship. In the “High Cost of Deporting Parents,” I estimate that taxpayers spent over $100,000 to deport a man named Ray Jesus—a father to five U.S. citizens who had been married to an American woman for 12 years. Ray had lived in the U.S. for 22 years (part of the time legally) and was paying taxes and creating jobs. It was a ridiculous waste of money to deport him (he’s home now — legally — after nearly three years away). One solution — one way to avoid wasting all this money — is to be more careful about whom we deport. We have to ask ourselves what we gain when we deport people who have families, have been here for decades and who are not hurting anyone. Usually the answer is nothing.

E: A big problem on the American side of this issue is oftentimes the ignorance of American citizens. Why do you think Americans tend to ignore the glaring problem of immigration or get uncomfortable when discussing it?

R: It’s human nature to be skeptical of outsiders. It’s something that’s been around forever. Benjamin Franklin is considered one of the wisest people in American history, but he also said some things about German immigrants that sound both ridiculous and strikingly similar to what some people today say about Latino immigrants. In 1751 he wrote, “Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of our anglifying them, and will never adopt our Language or Customs, any more than they can acquire our Complexion?” Sounds crazy, right? Research shows that ignorance and prejudice usually dissipate when groups interact and form relationships with one another.

You can see Germano’s film “The Other Side of Immigration” free on Netflix Instant, or you can visit his website, www.RoyGermano.com, to download or buy a DVD. His other film, “The High Cost of Deporting Parents,” is available on VICE’s YouTube channel as part of their “Immigrant America” series, which Germano also produces. For speaking and/or screening engagements, you can email Germano at [email protected].