Diane Guerrero

“We were like any other family with the same troubles and some of the same happy moments.”

“I am here, a citizen of this country, and I'm saying, 'Hey, the system failed me. I am a good citizen. I contribute to this country, and here I am sharing my story. What are you going to do now?'”

“It is a huge myth that our voices don't matter, that our vote doesn't count.”

“I want to live in a country where we believe in helping each other, where we see where resources are lacking.”

“It's sometimes a little embarrassing to take selfies, but sometimes I want to take a selfie because I'm like, 'Oh I look cute. I like my hat. I like what I'm wearing, and I want to show it off.'”

“I would have had a much different story to tell if I had been imprisoned after being separated from my family, without a warm bed and only the cold faces of ICE agents and the crinkly feeling of a Mylar blanket.”

“I remember when I was younger, older folks would say to me, 'There are three things you don't talk about at a dinner party: religion, politics, and money.' But I think the truth is quite the opposite.”

“I went through depression, which is something that we don't often talk about when we look at undocumented communities and deported families.”

“Sometimes I want to bury myself in bed, and I don't want anyone to know anything about me, and I don't want anyone to judge me.”

“Deporting asylum seekers back to violence does not reflect the values of our country.”

“I learned at a very young age that my parents were undocumented.”

“Immigrants are working hard to give our families a better life. Isn't that what the American Dream is?”

“I so desperately wanted to fit in. There was a trajectory, and obviously, our society tells us that you go to high school, you graduate, and then you go to college, and from there, you get an internship, you get a job, and some people study abroad, and there are so many things you see that you desperately want to be a part of.”

“Since when is it good to separate a family?”

“Some people have issues in their past that might make them tweak out at certain moments, but it's possible to snap back and be a real human being.”

“I was lucky enough to be with my parents until I was 14. Having my parents tell me that I could do anything. I was special. I matter.”

“For me, picking a college was really difficult. I wish I had had my parents there kind of supervising me. But I chose well. I did OK.”

“It's interesting when people access their inner little girl or little boy. I remember doing tons of those exercises when I was in school, where you're trying to dig into your vulnerability. There's no mask for a child, so all those feelings are real.”

“As a kid, I felt like I had no voice, felt like I had no options, and that's what drove me to this really dark place.”

“I definitely binge-watched 'House of Cards' when it first came out.”