What happens when your family disappears while you’re at school? What if no one comes looking for you? For Actress Diane Guerrero, these aren’t hypothetical questions. They were her reality. Long before she was Maritza Ramos on Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black,” or Lina on the CW’s “Jane the Virgin,” Guerrero was a 14-year-old girl who came home one day to find an empty home. The lights were on, dinner was started, but her parents and brother were gone. They had been detained and deported to Colombia, leaving her—an American citizen—completely alone. That day, her life changed forever.
The Day That Changed Diane Guerrero Forever
“I called my parents a million times,” Guerrero explained in an emotional CNN interview with Host Michaela Pereira, that has recently resurfaced and gone viral. “I was coming home from school and I was really excited because I went to a performance arts high school so around that time we were planning Springfest. Everyone was getting their parts and their singing roles. I was really excited because this was my first year and I was really excited to tell them about it … I got home, and their cars were there, and the lights were on, and dinner was started, but I couldn’t find them,” she said, fighting tears, adding, “It was really hard … it was really hard.”
In her interview, she says she hid under her bed in terror. “I was so scared. What do you do? And then I’m so scared for them, what they’re going through, you know, my parents are going to jail — and for what? They’re not criminals.”
Despite being just a teenager, she says no government agency checked in on her. No officials made sure she had a home, food, or support. It was the kindness of friends’ parents that kept her from falling through the cracks. They raised her while her parents were gone. They’ve never returned.
The Wounds That Never Fully Heal
Years later, she became an actress, taking on some pretty challenging roles. For example, in the final season of “Orange Is the New Black,” her character, Maritza, is detained by ICE and ultimately deported to Colombia. The haunting parallel between her real life and fiction was not lost on her or her audience. Fans watching the episode, titled Minority Deport, took to social media to express their heartbreak.
Today, Guerrero is quite vocal about what happened to her family over two decades ago. She wrote a memoir released in 2018 titled My Family Divided: One Girl’s Journey of Home, Loss, and Hope. In it, she details her experience. She’s also uses her her platform to speak out against family separation, testifying before Congress and calling for comprehensive immigration reform.
‘The System Didn’t Offer Relief’
Guerrero emphasizes that her parents tried for years to get documented, but the system failed them. “It is so difficult for some people to get documented — to get their papers and to become legal. My parents tried forever and this system didn’t offer relief for them.”
During these days, when ICE raids across the United States are making headlines, Guerrero’s story brings a human face to it all. Her story sheds light on a harsh reality. American children are left behind with no one to turn to. How many families have been separated like Guerrero’s?
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For now, Guerrero refuses to let these stories go unheard. She’s making sure that behind every statistic, there is a human face. Is she making a difference? As with everything, only time will tell.
