The Statue of Liberty and the famous Emma Lazarus poem about it open a new documentary aptly titled Staten Island's Huddled Masses.

Produced by the advocacy group Move Forward Staten Island, it tells the stories of three immigrant families that now call the borough home.

"I think when folks think about Staten Island, they don't necessarily think about how diverse and vibrant our immigration population is here,” Julienne Verdi, the founder of Move Forward Staten Island tells NY1. “And so we really wanted to highlight that."

The Department of City Planning says Staten Island's immigration population has surged 41 percent in 15 years, the largest spike in the five boroughs.

Move Forward Staten Island says it made the documentary as a counterpoint to the increase in anti-immigrant attitudes reflected in the election of Donald Trump, who is more popular on Staten Island than anywhere else in the city.

One of the immigrants profiled , Leela Mathews, who came from India with two small daughters.

"They used to tell me, ‘Go back to your country,’" says Mathews says.

Vincent Verdi recalls years of living in fear of his father's deportation.

His dad had stowed away on a boat from Italy and jumped off in Boston Harbor to begin his life in America, eventually moving to Staten Island.

The documentary's most well-known subject is Cesar Vargas, the first undocumented immigrant in New York State to become a lawyer.

He came to Staten Island as a boy with his mother and his siblings. A single plastic bag carried all of their belongings.

"In that photo there was no luggage. There was no carry-ons. There was just one plastic bag to take to the US and start our new life,” Vargas says.  “That was our American dream, in that plastic bag."

The group is hoping their film inspires other immigrants living on Staten Island to come forward and document their stories.

Move Forward Staten Island is soliciting immigration stories for its next film. For information on how to do that and to view Staten Island's Huddled Masses, log on to MoveForward.NYC.