Friday, August 10, 2018

MY FAMILY DIVIDED: One Girl's Journey of Home, Loss, and Hope by Diane Guerrero with Erica Moroz

My Family Divided: One Girl's Journey of Home, Loss, and Hope
Immigration is a hot issue in politics today. Diane Guerrero, an actor in Orange Is the New Black, Jane the Virgin, and Superior Donuts, shares her story about overcoming the devastation of her parents' deportation.

Diane's parents and her brother arrived in the U.S. from Columbia before she was born. They were searching for a better place to raise their family. Born in the U.S., Diane was automatically a citizen, but her family remained undocumented. Years went by as the family settled in and worked hard to make a home.

During those early years, Diane's father found a lawyer to help him with the complicated process of becoming a citizen. He paid the lawyer monthly payments totaling many thousands of dollars. After Diane's mother was arrested and deported, her father went to check on the progress of his citizenship case only to find the lawyer's office empty. Terrifying times followed ending in the deportation of both of Diane's parents and her brother.

America was home to Diane, and determined to stay, she found help from friends and enrolled in a high school for the arts in Boston. It wasn't easy. Debilitating depression, financial struggles, and missing her parents all threatened to destroy Diane. Through hard work and dedication she is a college graduate and a successful actor involved in the fight to protect immigrants like her parents.

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