Diane Guerrero will be recognisable to many a Netflix subscriber as Hispanic prison inmate Maritza Ramos in the hit show Orange Is The New Black, but few will be aware that the her actual reality is almost as dramatic as her character's.
Following a powerful op-ed in the Los Angeles Times over the weekend, the 28-year-old has appeared on CNN in the US to open up about coming home from school at the age of 14 to the news that her immigrant parents had been taken for deportation after trying and failing to obtain legal status. The star became tearful and upset as she revealed that she now only sees them once a year, and called for President Obama to overhaul the country's immigration procedures.
"It's weird because, as I said, I would always have this feeling; I was always scared my parents would be gone," she recalled. "My dad had this whole system; 'here's where I hide this in case anything happens'." She said that on the fateful day itself, she could feel that something was wrong after phoning home "a million times" to relay news about her school's performing arts show but failing to get through. "Everyone was getting their parts; I was really excited to tell them about it," she said.
She returned home to find that dinner had been started, but her parents were nowhere to be seen... and it was left to her neighbours to tell her what had happened. Separated from each-other, her mother and father each eventually phoned later that night to tell her what was happening; after which she was taken in by family friends until she finished her education, all the while scared that she would outstay her welcome or end up without a home. Amazingly, she counts herself as being in the "best case scenario" portion of families who are separated in this way.
(Photo: CNN/YouTube)
Asked what her relationship with her parents is like now, over a decade later, Guerrero became emotional as she said: "They are in Colombia right now... I talk to them, not every day, but we talk. I go there once a year. It's tough. We've been separated for so long, I feel like sometimes we don't know each-other. It's difficult, because I've grown up without them... there's things about them that are new that I don't recognise, and it hurts."
(Photo: Netflix)
In her LA Times article, she had insisted: "I consider myself lucky because things turned out better for me than for most... I realise the issues are complicated. But it's not just in the interest of immigrants to fix the system: It's in the interest of all Americans. Children who grow up separated from their families often end up in foster care, or worse, in the juvenile justice system despite having parents who love them and would like to be able to care for them." She then called for congress to "provide a permanent, fair legislative solution" before many more families are "destroyed".
An interesting, emotional story - and one that will surely stir up plenty of debate. Guerrero isn't the first OITNB star to speak out on important issues either: Lea DeLaria (Big Boo) became an internet sensation earlier this month when she was filmed shutting down a homophobic preacher on a city subway; while Laverne Cox (Sophia) has become an iconic figure in the fight for trans equality. The hit show returns for its third season in June 2015.
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