Out Of Status

Pia Sawhney and Sanjina N. Singh's sympathetic documentary examines the effects of the post-9/11 War on Terror on four immigrant families whose religion or country of origin put them on Homeland Security's radar. An "out of status" person is no longer in compliance with the conditions under which he or she was admitted to the United States: They've overstayed tourist visas, been denied political asylum or refugee status, or simply been the victims of clerical errors… some are illegal while others are mired in the complicated, perpetually backlogged and often painfully inefficient immigration system.

Egyptian-born Akram Said was arrested at his Pennsylvania h...