Mediaboss Marketing

Actor Diane Guerrero, ofOrange Is the New Black and Jane the Virgin fame, had kept herfamilysimmigration and deportation experiencea secretuntil about a few years ago. She revealed much about her personal trajectory in her book, In the Country We Love: My Family Divided.

Donald Trumps negative rhetoric on the campaign trail about immigrants, depicting them as criminals and rapists, prompted herto speak out, she said during arecentepisode of Salon Talks.

Herimmediate family, originally from Columbia,was deported when she was just 14;Guerrero was born in the U.S and allowedto remainher butwithout them. I needed to share my story, just to share sort of the other side of who an undocumented person is andwhatfamilies are affected by deportation and overall sort what our system looks like; that we have millions of families here going through the same thing, shesaid.

Young people often bear the brunt of family separation, Guerrero explained. These are the people who are not considered by the politicians making decisions in D.C. and by a lot people who dont understand the immigration system and who dont care to fix it.

She decriedthe out there to do this or that and [that] no one is offering up solutions. And right now the rhetoric is poisonous and its dividing us and its not really helping the country. When asked what progress would look like to her, she said she wants to see an immigration reform bill passed, citing former PresidentBarack Obamas efforts to attempt such reform and expandthe Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which has been stopped time and time again.

Right now, I would like to see the country unite, said said. I would like to see people voting in 2018 for a Congress that is representative of them and their families, and Id like to see some sort of reform pass. Id like to see the visa system updated. Added Guerrero: If we start there, then we can see what happens.I mean we havent tried anything different.

When questioned about another type of negative imagery that emerged recently when comic Kathy Griffin shared a bloody, severed image of President Donald Trumps head, Guerrero replied,I dont necessarily think that what she did was helpful but I dont really think its that important. I mean whats important is the overuse of police brutality thats important. The separation of families thats important. Whats happening with the environment thats important.

Catch more of her conversation about immigration reform on Salon.

Read the original:
WATCH: Orange Is the New Black star gives a personal spin on immigration reform - Salon