TV Writer Rafael Agustin On Growing Up Undocumented

Fresh Air

NPR

Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture, Books

4.4 • 34.4K Ratings

🗓️ 12 July 2022

⏱️ 46 minutes

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Summary

Rafael Agustin's parents were physicians in Ecuador, but when they came to the U.S. they worked at a car wash and Kmart to get by. It wasn't until he was a teen that he learned they were undocumented. Agustin tells his story in his new memoir, Illegally Yours. He wrote for the TV series Jane the Virgin and is the CEO of the Latino Film Institute.

Also, Ken Tucker reviews the album Beatopia from the artist beabadoobee, out July 15.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Fresh Air.
0:01.2	I'm Dave Davies and today for Terry Gross.
0:04.3	Our guest Raphael Augustine is a successful TV writer and producer, but that's not the
0:09.8	subject of his new memoir.
0:12.0	It's about his experience growing up as an undocumented immigrant in the United States.
0:17.1	Augustine was born in Ecuador, and when he came to the United States with his parents
0:21.0	as a seven-year-old, he was so young and naive that he thought the Fourth of July fireworks
0:25.8	over the Los Angeles airport were there to herald his family's arrival.
0:30.6	His book tells the story of his parents leaving their middle-class existence in Ecuador
0:35.0	and working for menial jobs in America, and his life of learning English, constantly moving
0:40.4	from school to school, and figuring out how to apply to college with a strong high school
0:45.1	record but no social security number.
0:48.4	There are moments of heartbreak and humor, like his dad's exhilaration upon getting
0:52.6	a publisher's clearinghouse notice from a man named Ed McMahon that he may have won a million
0:57.6	dollars.
0:59.0	Raphael Augustine was a writer for the CW Network Show Jane the Virgin, and is now CEO of the
1:04.5	Latino Film Institute, where he oversees the Youth Cinema Project and the Los Angeles Latino
1:10.0	International Film Festival.
1:12.0	He co-created and co-starred in an autobiographical comedy stage show which toured nationally for
1:17.7	three years.
1:19.2	His new book is Illigley Yours, a memoir.
1:22.7	Raphael Augustine, welcome to Fresh Air.
	...

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