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'Orange Is The New Black' actress tells story of family's deportation to SLCC grads


'Orange Is The New Black' actress tells story of family's deportation to SLCC grads (Photo: KUTV)
'Orange Is The New Black' actress tells story of family's deportation to SLCC grads (Photo: KUTV)
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(KUTV) Diane Guerrero, known for her roles in “Orange is the New Black” and “Jane the Virgin,” was the keynote speaker at Salt Lake Community College’s Commencement Ceremony -– the largest in the school’s history with 4,700 graduates.

Guerrero told the graduates she found success, but only after surviving the trauma of being forcibly separated from her family at age 14, when her parents and brother were deported to Colombia.

“Before I shared my story, I thought no one was going through this. As I grew up I saw a lot of families were going through this,” she said during an interview after her commencement speech.

Guerrero said she came home from school one day to find her family was gone.

Guerrero was the only one in her family born in the U.S.

As she grew up in a tight knit community and a school that offered a supportive environment, she stayed alone in the U.S. to pursue her education and dreams of performing.

“My parents love me and they instilled in me the strong desire to achieve my goals,” she said.

Two of her friends’ families took her in and raised her. Despite the support, she said she was traumatized by the loss of her family and worried about them and how she was going to get by without them.

“When you no longer have your mom and dad to fend for you, you have to fend for yourself and it’s scary and it’s dangerous,” she said.

Guerrero feels an obligation to speak for immigrant families. She believes when the government arrests and deports good people, everyone around that person suffers.

“A family separation is never a good thing. We need to keep them together. That’s what our nation is all about. Family values,” she said.

She encouraged students to get involved in their communities and become politically active in order to affect change.

She encouraged them to persevere and go after their goals.

She knows she is an exception, having achieved success and fame despite her family’s deportation -- but it still hurts.

“I would have loved for my parents to see me giving a commencement speech,” she said.

Guerrero has written about her family’s story in a book called “In the Country We Love.”

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