We highlight the cinematic representation of immigrants in early Hollywood cinema, the evolution of the portrayal of immigrant characters in more recent films, and explore the ways in which immigrant stories are used to address larger social, political, and cultural issues.   We will look at movies that detail the immigrant experience such as The Godfather, Part II (1974), America America (1963), Avalon (1990), films from the early silent days such as Charlie Chaplan's The Immigrant (1917) to more recent films like Brooklyn (2015) and Minari (2020).