Hollywood Showed Its Support For Immigrants At The Oscars

Before presenting the award for Best Production Design, Nyong'o and Nanjiani — who are both immigrants — gave a shout-out to young, undocumented immigrants currently awaiting a pathway to permanent US citizenship.

"We stand up for the DREAMers. We stand up for the immigrants," said the rapper, who was surrounded by 10 activists.

"I am an immigrant, like Alfonso [Cuarón], Alejandro [Iñárritu], my compadres. Like Gael [García Bernal], like Salma [Hayek], and like many, many of you," he said after winning the award for Best Director. "And in the last 25 years, I've been living in a country all of our own … The greatest thing our art does and our industry does is to erase the lines in the sand. We should continue to do that as the world tries to make them deeper.”

When he took the stage to accept the award for Best Picture, he spoke further about the power of storytelling. “I was a kid enamored with movies. Growing up in Mexico, I thought this could never happen. It happens," he said. "I want to tell you everyone [who] is dreaming of a parable of using…the genre of fantasy to tell the stories about the things that are real in the world today. You can do it. This is the door. Kick it open and come in.”