Actor Diego Luna lead a group of Latino television and movie stars who spoke out against what they describe as the “cruelty” of President Donald Trump and his Administration’s enforcement of a policy regarding the separation of immigrant families at the border during the National Association of Latino Independent Producers’ Latino Media Awards.
The Rogue One: A Star Wars Story star spoke Saturday at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood about how he feels it’s the duty of Latino artists to bring stories about separated children at the border to light.
“What’s been in happening in this country these last few days, this cruelty cannot be accepted or tolerated,” Luna said. “We have to remind ourselves that we are the ones telling our stories, so we have to be telling the stories of the invisible so they can be visible.”
Contrary to Luna’s statement that the border controversy over separated families has been raging for the “last few days,” the current crisis can be traced back to the Clinton Administration. In Flores vs. Reno, the Supreme Court made a provision for accompanied minors to be held “in the least restrictive setting appropriate to the minor’s age and special needs.”
Other stars spoke out against the current border drama, according to Variety:
Isabela Moner, who won the Lupe Ontiveros award, told Variety all creators need to speak up, because she believes it is not longer just a government issue, but a humanitarian issue: ‘At a certain point it’s just wrong, and the law can be morally wrong and that’s where we have to draw the line as humans.
‘Until you start telling people what to do and how to do it, there’s so much more to it,” Moner said. “And I feel like I’m not doing enough, and I’m really trying. You can make phone calls, there are people who are camping out outside these [ICE] centers and protesting.’
Vida star Mishel Prada voiced concern over what she sees as the stripping of basic humanities and what that could result in.
“We’re all seeing the pictures and videos and audio of what’s happening to our gentes trying to immigrate here and trying to find asylum,” Prada said. “We are scared that, deep down, other people in this country are hearing these children crying for their parents and feeling nothing.”
That’s where Prada sees Hispanic entertainers playing a crucial role.
“It’s so easy to fear what we don’t know, and we must be seen, we must be felt and we must be understood so that no one can deny us our humanity,” Prada explained. “And we can only do that if we continue working together.”
At one point, Marvel Studios producer Victoria Alonso appealed to the audience to harken back to the moment they realized their “American Dream” was worth leaving their native lands for.
“Look back to that moment where you thought this is what I will go and fight for,” Alonso asked. “This is what I will leave my family behind for, I will leave my language behind for, I will leave my country behind for, I will perhaps find a lot of gaps along the way, but then in that search, you found the gratitude of what it means to take one step at a time.”
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