The second documentary of CNN’s Latino in America series, Chasing the Dream, will focus on a journey as old as the nation – the pursuit of the American Dream. CNN anchor and special correspondent Soledad O’Brien interviews Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL), who fled communist Cuba at age 15 under the U.S. government’s “Operacíon Pedro Pan.” Living first in a Catholic church in Miami, he eventually earned undergraduate and legal degrees and became a U.S. Senator. The American Dream remains elusive for “Marta,” a young woman from Central America, whom O’Brien meets in a detention camp. Marta came to America illegally in search of her mother. Her fate will be determined by an immigration judge. Vanessa Rosas and her husband, both bilingual engineers, have relocated to Florida from Puerto Rico, in a wave of Latino professionals recruited to join Orlando businesses like The Walt Disney World Resort. Also in Orlando, O’Brien interviews Carlos Robles. Hoping to resume the career in law enforcement he practiced in Puerto Rico, Robles struggles to learn English and worries he will not pass his sheriff’s exam. And in a story of a dream denied, O’Brien investigates the story of Luis Ramirez in Shenandoah, PA. Ramirez was killed in a fight with a group of white high school students – allegedly only because of his ethnicity. Finally, O’Brien visits Pico Rivera, CA, a fast-growing city in southeastern Los Angeles County, known affectionately by its majority Latino residents as the “Latino Mayberry.”

About CNN Productions
Latino in America is produced by CNN Productions, the most award-winning documentary unit in cable news.  The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences recently announced that it will honor CNN Productions with the President’s Award at its ceremonies in September.  Mark Nelson is the vice president and senior executive producer for the unit; Kathy Slobogin is managing editor for CNN Productions; Rose Arce and Catherine Mitchell are senior producers; Brian Rokus, Emily Probst, Kimberly Arp-Babbit, and Robert Howell are producers; Jody Gottlieb is the executive director for 
CNN Productions. 

About CNN Worldwide
CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.

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