Early one morning, Maria—then nine months pregnant—and her family were stopped by the police for no discernable reason. A special breakfast outing became a nightmare—and at one of the most intimate moments of her life, Maria found a team of immigration agents—not her husband—by her side.

Maria's chilling story is the centerpiece of "Checkpoint Nation? Building Community Across Borders," a powerful new documentary that depicts the reality of post-9/11 racial profiling and its subsequent impact on women — as mandated by laws such as SB 1070 in Arizona, which are now being imitated and implemented nationwide.

Set in the U.S./Mexico border area near Tucson, Arizona, a region that sees more and more migrant deaths every year, the video explores the trauma that women, especially those forced underground and made invisible, face across America. And while we talk of a "war on women" that includes issues of reproductive and economic justice, what we don't see is the war on immigrant women as part of a sweeping crusade against the fundamental rights of all women living in the United States, documented and otherwise.

It's time for us to protect the true American values of diversity and democracy, dignity and respect. Because when we deny due process and human rights to any one group of people, especially a vulnerable group like immigrant women, we put all of our rights at risk.

"I've seen a lot in my life but to be degraded...not just stripped of my clothes, being stripped of my dignity, was what I had a problem with."

Kurdish American Karwan Abdul Kader was stopped and stripped by local law enforcement for no reason other than driving around in the wrong neighborhood. Watch stories like his in this powerful new documentary "Face The Truth: Racial Profiling Across America" showing the devastating impact of racial profiling on communities across our country, including the African American, Latino, Arab, Muslim and South Asian communities. The documentary accompanies a Rights Working Group report calling on the government to stop this unconstitutional and humiliating practice.

Watch the video and take action to stop racial profiling in your community.

One day while driving in Tennessee -- and while nine months pregnant -- Juana was stopped for a supposed traffic violation (of which she was later cleared). Before she knew it, Juana, an immigrant from Mexico, found herself in jail awaiting possible detention. Then she went into labor — and to the hospital, without her family, to give birth in shackles.

Watch the video to learn the rest of Juana's ordeal, and to see the damage our broken, inhumane immigration system causes to women, families and communities. And consider this: we are talking a lot these days about the "war on women." But the war on women is even bigger than you may think. Yes, it is about reproductive and economic justice ---- and yes, that's pretty big already. But this "war" is more. The war on immigrants and the escalating "war on women" are part of one sweeping crusade against the fundamental rights of all women living in the United States, documented and otherwise.

It's time for us to protect the true American values of diversity and democracy, dignity and respect. It's time for those of us outraged by women's human rights violations across borders and oceans to support women's human rights at home. We're here to stand up for the rights of all women in the United States. Are you?

Meet Mansimran.

He's an all-American guy who likes Starbucks, hoops, and robotics. He's a student, an older brother, and an active member of his Sikh religious community. Sometimes, when strangers see his turban, and the color of his skin, they lean out their car window and call him a "terrorist." He's not alone: especially since September 11, Sikh Americans and other communities have become targets of discrimination, racial profiling and bullying, human rights violations, and hate crimes. (One survey found that, even 6 years after the events of 2001, 75% of Sikh male schoolchildren in New York had been teased or harassed on the basis of their religious identity.)

How does Mansimran handle it? "My response is, 'Come over here, sit down, I'll tell you about Sikhism, I'll tell you who I am," he explains. In other words, he totally takes it in stride ---- but it shouldn't be that way in the first place.

We are all on the same team, after all ---- and we should take a page from Mansimran's playbook by standing up against racial profiling and bullying, reaching out across differences, upholding human rights, and treating everyone around us with the American ---- and human-rights ---- values of dignity, equality, and respect. You can stand with Mansimran ---- and against racist bullying ---- by getting to know him and sharing his video.

Breakthrough went "live from jail" behind the walls of an immigrant detention center and met several long time residents who face exile from the U.S. because of unfair immigration laws. The threat of being exiled away from their families and lives is almost too much to bear. As one of them says, "this is a nightmare that I've not been able to wake up from."

Sandra Kenley was a 52- year-old grandmother who had lived legally in the US for 33 years. But one day, all that changed when she was taken into a detention center to face deportation proceedings. Suddenly the life as she knew it was being taken away from her.

But it got worse. For the hundreds of thousands who have gone through immigration detention centers, many - especially women - have suffered because of a denial of basic medical care, abuse and neglect.

Sandra eventually died, and as her sister June Everett says, "because the American system failed her, a system we believed in, a system that needs fixing now." Watch the video and see the damage our broken, inhumane immigration system causes to women, families and communities. It's time for us to protect the true American values of diversity and democracy, dignity and respect. Because when we deny due process and human rights to some people, we put all of our rights at risk. We're here to stand up for the rights of all women in the United States. Are you?

Courage comes in many different forms. For Esmeralda a transgender asylum seeker from Mexico who faced horrific circumstances in immigration detention, it came in the form of seeking justice. Kept in a segregated cell with other transgender detainees, she was abused and traumatized

Shirley Tan came from the Philippines decades ago, and built a life with her partner Jay, giving birth to twin boys and becoming a full-time mom. But Shirley faced the biggest challenge of her life as she fought to stay on in the United States, crippled by laws that do not allow gay and lesbian couples to sponsor their partners.

Betsy, an American, fell in love with a man from Italy and they started a family. In all respects he was American - he lived in the U.S for decades, was a legal permanent resident, was married to an American Citizen, and had citizen children. Yet when he was arrested, their life spiraled out of control - as he faced deportation back to Italy.

Warren Joseph, a Trinidadian who came to the U.S., obtained his Green Card and chose to do the ultimate American act -- join the Army. After returning from the war in Iraq, he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, ultimately being sent to immigration detention where he languished for 3 years, facing and observing numerous counts of abuse from immigration officials. He says, "There's many physical abuses up there, the thing is who can you tell?"

Agatha Joseph's daughter was only 17 when she was placed in detention. She spent 3 years fighting for her case in 7 detention centers—all for making a small mistake as a teenager. Watch, as her mother, Agatha, tells the hardships her daughter endured behind the unsafe walls of the detention center.

Ali, a Pakistani-born, HIV+ gay man, had been living in New York City for 30 years with a Green Card. He spent more than a year suffering in immigrant detention where he witnessed the worst kind of physical abuse and medical mistreatment, including constantly fighting to get his HIV medication which he needed to survive and often being given the wrong medications or doses. He says, "There's no benefit for HIV+ or AIDS people. If you die in your room they don't care."

Anslem Ifill lived in the U.S. for 25 years—it is his home. So much so that he put his own life at risk to serve the country for eight years with the Army. Because of this ultimate sacrifice, he can't believe the unimaginable will happen. He asks, "How can you deport individuals who risk their lives for the very beliefs and freedoms of this country?"

See what happens when a permanent member of a popular space crew finds his status is in question. In any galaxy, when we deny due process and human rights to some, we put all of our freedoms at risk.

Although Sarah has been in America legally since the age of 7, with a respectable profession and two children, just one wrong decision led to a series of events that has resulted in her detention, separation from her children and exile from everything she held dear. Watch as she shares how she "this is a bad, bad dream and something has to change."

The remains of at least 6,000 migrants have been found in U.S. desert land since U.S.-Mexico border policies were implemented in the 1990s. Some groups estimate that for each set of remains recovered, those of 10 more people are lost to the harsh desert elements. Advocates and authorities attribute the escalating number of deaths not only to rising heat but also to ever-tightening border security forcing migrants into more remote and dangerous terrain. Deserted calls on viewers to recognize these deaths as a humanitarian emergency and human rights crisis.

The video includes chilling images of a morgue in Tucson, Arizona in which row after row of body bags contain human remains that may never be identified, of people whose families may never know what happened to them.

Stand with Breakthrough and recognize this human rights crisis that is taking place at our border. Watch and share this video, and take action against this human rights crisis with No More Deaths (www.nomoredeaths.org) and Coalition de Derechos Humanos (derechoshumanosaz.net).

VIDEO CREDITS: Directed, filmed and edited by Dana Variano with Ishita Srivastava; music by Denver Dalley; post-production audio by Hobo Audio. Produced by Breakthrough.