‘Orange Is the New Black’ Actress Diane Guerrero on Her Family’s Separation and the Need for Immigration Reform
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In the United States today, approximately 44 million of the 327 million residents are immigrants. That is to say that around 13% of our population has, at one point or another, immigrated to the United States. Throughout its history, the U.S. has become a champion of liberty and freedom, a philosophy that has attracted individuals from all over the world to immigrate here in the hopes of one day realizing the “American Dream.” The reality is that doing so is rarely an easy feat, and millions find themselves with a complete disadvantage to the rest of the population. With an administration that openly demoralizes immigrants, the situations that we see across our country and the border are only getting worse. Diane Guerrero, a Latina child of immigrants who is more widely known as an actress on the hit Netflix show Orange Is the New Black, has experienced firsthand the ways in which the immigration system can tear apart and destroy families.
Guerrero grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, where her parents did their best to maintain normalcy in their lives. However, they still felt the constant looming fear of what could happen to them. As undocumented immigrants, Guerrero’s parents were at risk of being deported at any given time. “We had a very tough time dealing with the immigration system in this country,” Guerrero starts. “My parents worked very hard to provide for our family and to achieve citizen status in this country, which was really tough. In my memoir, I talk about how we were easily prey to an unjust system and bad lawyers. My parents didn’t have any luck with the people around them who were helping them through this journey. As a result of that failure, my parents were deported, and we were separated when I was at a very young age.” At just 14 years old, Guerrero had to figure out how to deal with the tragic loss of her family as well as how to survive in the U.S. alone. Guerrero decided to stay in the U.S. and not go back to Colombia with her family. She details, “I decided to stay in the country and live in the shadows. I lived with secrets, and this part of my life was not talked about and was belittled. The experience of being an immigrant in this country was heavily belittled and made me ashamed of myself. I saw much hardship because of that. I didn’t allow myself to talk about the issue or accept what had happened, which bought a lot of trauma. It manifested itself through my later years, when I had a lot of trouble.” Through all of this, Guerrero’s parents struggled to keep their family together at such a great distance. The unfortunate thing about Guerrero’s story is that it is not entirely unique. Thousands of families are separated every year as parents are deported and torn from their children. Through sharing her story, Guerrero hopes that “we can humanize these issues and people can see that those suffering are real families that contribute to this country.” She continues, “While I am the daughter of undocumented parents, that does not make me less American, less of a citizen, less of a human. That has been my message so that we can achieve some sort of immigration reform in this country.” In order to process her trauma and in an attempt to reach out to others who may be in similar positions, Guerrero wrote two memoirs about her life.
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In 2016, Guerrero released her memoir In The Country We Love, which told the story of her family’s separation. Her memoir is a real account of an issue that has plagued the United States for centuries. Moreover, it was an extremely valuable experience for Guerrero, who hoped that writing it would allow her to deal with her past. “[Writing the memoir] was a total catharsis,” Guerrero shares. “It was a way for me to really examine what had happened to us and what my purpose in the world really was. The worst thing that you can do is think that you are alone. It is so important to reach out for a community like I did. There is strength in numbers and in knowing that you are not the only one out there suffering. I was happy to gift this to whomever was willing to read it and take from it. It took me from an adult who was super shy and ashamed of herself to an adult who understands that her struggle was not in vain.” By telling her story, Guerrero showed to millions of people that real families are being affected every day by the injustices of the country’s current immigration system. To make sure that young audiences would also be able to hear her story, Guerrero decided to adapt the memoir into a children’s book. My Family Divided: One Girl’s Journey of Home, Loss, and Hope is aimed at middle school aged children, a book that a child going through a similar experience as Guerrero’s could pick up and read to feel less alone. “It was a way to bring the book to a middle-grade level. I have often thought about my book as an educational piece, so I really wanted to bring it to a younger audience. So far, it has been really great. I love the idea that my book is being used in schools. For me, it is a personal win to get all of these letters from middle schoolers using my book as book reports or a big topic in their class. For someone who struggled in school and to find a place for herself in academia was quite rewarding.” Through telling her story and speaking out against the injustices she has experienced throughout her life, Guerrero has raised awareness and inspired many to take action.
“While I am the daughter of undocumented parents, that does not make me less American, less of a citizen, less of a human.”
In the recent years, we have seen a real crisis occurring at the United States’ border with Mexico. Immigrant caravans have been traveling by foot for thousands of miles to the border in order to seek asylum. Many of these immigrants are coming from extremely dangerous countries, in which there are clear violations of their human rights, and are legally seeking asylum at the border. The current administration has refused to allow them to enter and seek asylum and has resorted to putting many immigrants in overcrowded detention camps. The conditions at these camps are not only unacceptable but should also be illegal. Guerrero says that she is not surprised at what is occurring at the border today “with the way that this president ran his campaign.” Guerrero continues, “It was completely on the platform of demeaning and attacking the immigrant community. What we see now is just a grotesque result of years and years of putting off the ‘immigration issue’ or the ‘immigration question.’ This is what we see when we disregard an entire population of folks and when we see someone like this man go into office. We see children in cages, people at the border seeking asylum and being condemned for it and thrown in jail. I think it is something that has been happening for a long time, and now we are seeing the worst of it. Throughout history we have seen the dehumanization of people of color and those who are seeking help. These people have been displaced because of the ignorant practices of countries like the U.S., so it is really no surprise to me that it is happening. It is a terrible and awful thing. It brings up a lot for me, but this is why I want to continue telling stories that reflect the reality of what is going on in our society.”
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Guerrero naturally became an activist. Having gone through what she did, she had plenty of experiences to speak out about. Along with activism, she was always interested in the arts. She attended a performing arts high school, which combined the humanities with the arts. Guerrero recalls, “The school was very diverse and inclusive. We learned a lot about our nation’s history. We had a big focus on the humanities, and through that I became very interested in social justice. I studied Political Science and Communications in college. Through that I realized that I really wanted to act and sing and be an entertainer. I wanted to tell stories through a social justice lens. I wanted to tell stories that moved people and also pushed conversations. That has been my trajectory, even in the work I do now.”
Guerrero’s first TV recurring role was as Maritzia Ramos on Orange Is the New Black (OITNB), a revolutionary show in the way that it displayed diversity and represented a variety of characters and stories. It also popularized a new way of watching television: Netflix. “Orange Is the New Black was my first TV gig. It really opened the doors for me,” Guerrero says. “Of course, it was a story about the women’s prison system in this country and all of the injustices that exist there. Through that I was really inspired to share my own personal journey that involved the immigration system in this country that I thought needed some attention. I am an actor, and I am also a human being who is fighting for social justice just like many of us are.” The Netflix show featured actors of different ethnicities, races, and backgrounds. One of the most revolutionary things that OITNB did was bring diverse, multidimensional characters together and have them inter- act with one another. “We put more than one person of color in one scene,” Guerrero says on the impact of Orange Is the New Black on the entertainment industry. “Before us, you would never see that! You would normally have your token actor of color in whatever scene, but you never really saw more than one. It was revolutionary in telling the real stories that occur to real women.
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“We were living in this fantasy land where people of color did not exist. It was revolutionary enough to put more than one woman of color in the same room.” By doing this OITNB opened the doors for a new norm in television shows, which over the past few years have begun to feature more actors of color and new perspectives on stories. “We were living in this fantasy land where people of color did not exist,” Guerrero reiterates. “I like to think that I was part of that change with shows like Orange Is the New Black and others. There is plenty of talent out there, not just actors but also writers, producers, and directors. We just need the opportunity to share our stories. This happens from us, but also from the top. It is about hiring these decision-makers that are diverse and people who are willing to tell more than one side of the story.” This July, Orange Is the New Black releases its seventh and final season. As sad as Guerrero was to say goodbye to her character and the cast, she feels as though their work had been done. “It is exciting to come full circle! I had missed season 6, so I thought my time was over anyways. Being back on a show that was so beloved was really exciting. It was sad to put a cap on it and say goodbye. So many of us grew from that show... The growth that a lot of my cast members and I did was just immense. It shaped my life forever, so I will try to carry this on for sure.”
Guerrero has found ways to fully intersect her work as an activist with her work as an actress. To her, it’s simply unavoidable. “[Activism] is in everything that I do,” she emphasizes. “I have been lucky enough to work on projects where I am sharing stories that touch upon social issues that are going on. It gives me a chance to explore that and also reaffirm the belief that these stories are important to tell. I found that I can’t necessarily do one without the other. I am glad to be doing projects that resonate with who I am.” Her bravery in speaking out about her story has helped thousands in dealing with their own personal traumas and is a step towards pushing for some real change to happen in the U.S.
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Guerrero emphasizes how it is now more important than ever to finally push for some sort of immigration reform to better the situation. “I won’t pretend to be a politician and know every single policy, but I will say that we haven’t tried any sort of reform. Certainly, seeing the abolition of ICE would be a priority. They need to stop terrorizing families, because that emotional and mental violence is ruining our communities and creating a generation of scared people. Those people are needed to make our society better. We are not making our country better by terrorizing these folks. Fixing our visa system would also be a priority. We need new policies,” Guerrero stresses. “We have not seen immigration reform before. We have seen it tried to be passed, but time and time again we have not seen it happen. We need an administration that puts this issue first and works very hard to decriminalize families who are just here seeking a better existence.” Additionally, it is important to understand that this is not something that just the immigrant community should be aiding and pushing for. “We need to educate ourselves and each other on the history of immigration in this country, not try to erase all of the inhumane practices done to people of color in this country. Voting is also incredibly important. We need to vote for people who care about these communities and care about making this country equal and just. Overall, just stop supporting folks that have these [anti-immigration] ideals. By that I mean to not look the other way. Just because it wasn’t you that voted for Donald Trump or for these terrible practices to become laws, you also have to be proactive about not letting this stuff slide. You have to not accept people who believe these things.”
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