"Orange is the New Black" actress Diane Guerrero broke down in tears while discussing her parents and older brother’s deportation while she was in high school.
Guerrero, 28, spoke to CNN about her push for President Barack Obama's plans to overhaul the immigration laws in order to help people gain citizenship. The actress cried while describing the day her parents and older brother were sent back to Columbia without her knowledge.
Another concern she has is the lack of outreach from the government to see if she was being properly taken care of at 14-years-old. Guerrero claimed she learned of her family’s deportation status through her neighbors, not through a government official.
The actress added her parents tried for a long time to get the proper documentation to live in the United States, but were unsuccessful. Guerrero was always aware of their status and lived in fear her family would be taken away from her at any second.
"It is so difficult for some people to get documented and to get their papers and become legal, and my parents tried forever. And this system didn't offer relief for them," she told CNN. "What I'm asking for is to create or find a solution for families."
The OITNB actress also wrote an op-ed piece for the Los Angeles Times regarding her experience and her push to help people gain U.S. citizenship.
"Keeping families together is a core American value," she wrote. "Congress needs to provide a permanent, fair legislative solution, but in the meantime families are being destroyed every day, and the president should do everything in his power to provide the broadest relief possible now. Not one more family should be separated by deportation."
