Dania Ramirez shares family’s immigration story (Image: Welcome.Us)
Dominican actress Dania Ramirez spoke with MSNBC’s Jose Diaz-Balart about her family’s story in a recently released short documentary, “An American Alien.” Ramirez, who co-directed and starred in the doc, spoke candidly with her parents, Agueda Camacho and Daniel Ramirez, her sisters and family members about their experience being immigrants to the United States.
Whether you immigrated to this country or are first- or second-generation, the video, which was released in time for June’s Immigrant Heritage Month, is one many can relate to.
“El sueño americano de nosotros está en ustedes,” said Ramirez’s mother. (“Our American Dream lives within you.”)
Like many who’ve immigrated to the States, Ramirez’s parents left their beloved Dominican Republic in search of a better life. “We had to leave you [girls] behind so that I could come here in pursuit of a dream,” she says. Ramirez wasn’t reunited with her parents until the age of 10, something she and her sister discuss within the video.
“The misconception of an immigrant in America is that we’re not productive members of society,” says Ramirez.
The doc, as well as Ramirez’s widely successful career, shows that’s far from the truth. See it below:
What is your immigrant story? Share it with us in the comments section.
(For more stories, visit the Immigrant Heritage Month website.)
