As a reminder that nearly all American citizens share a common immigrant heritage, one organization gathered more than 50 high-profile celebrities to be a part of the "I Am An Immigrant" campaign.
Welcome.us, a non-profit organization that coordinates Immigrant Heritage Month every June, is honoring immigrants with the help of influential figures, such as Kerry Washington, Julianne Moore, Lupita Nyong’o, Tracee Ellis Ross, Alan Cumming, Rosario Dawson, Akon, Bobby Cannavale, Tom Colicchio, Miguel, Rosie Perez, Junot Diaz, Roselyn Sanchez and Guillermo Diaz.
Many of the stars participated in a video for the campaign, above, in which they shared their thoughts on why immigrants are an important part of the United States while wearing the campaigns "I Am An Immigrant" t-shirt.
"I don't know of anybody that didn't come over here from somewhere at some point," Bobby Cannavale says in the video posted Wednesday.
Says actress Rosario Dawson: "[People say] well my family came over here on the Mayflower, and I'm like, 'Exactly! Hello, immigrant."
Each celebrity was also photographed by director Cary Fukunaga ("True Detective," "Beasts of No Nation"). Welcome.us is asking others to join the campaign by using the #IAmAnImmigrant hashtag on Twitter to talk about their own immigrant heritage or use their custom "I Am An Immigrant" photo filter.
Here are what some participants are tweeting in solidarity:
Check out a behind the scenes look at the "I Am An Immigrant" photo shoot below:
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