Don-el was born in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic and was brought to the United States as a child. Raised in New York, Don-el attended a private school on the Upper West Side of Manhattan where he developed a profound interest in classics. Motivated to study at the best classics department in the country, Don-el applied to and was accepted at an Ivy League institution as an undocumented student.
Although his legal status did not hinder his studies, he knew it would become a problem when he prepared to study abroad at Oxford University; leaving the country would trigger a 10-year bar from re-entering the United States. Fortuitously, Don-el’s thesis advisor recruited him to work on a special project, and his university agreed to hire and sponsor him for a part-time H-1B nonimmigrant visa. Working with an immigration attorney, Don-el applied for and succeeded in obtaining a waiver to return to the United States on an H-1B. Don-el eventually obtained his green card through marriage.
Don-el is currently an associate professor of classics at his university.