Diane Guerrero didnt plan on becoming an immigration advocate. When she was just 14, her family was deported to Colombia, leaving her alone in the United States to figure out her future at a young age.

I experienced a very full childhood, so when it was taken away, it was like the wind had been knocked out of me, Guerrero told HuffPost in an interview. I couldnt wait to learn how to drive. I couldnt wait to go to prom. I couldnt wait to sing in my senior recital and have my parents see that, and, unfortunately, that time never came.

Now, seeing news headlines that mirror her own story of deportation and family separation, the 33-year-old actor uses her platform to demand political reform, shift the narrative on immigration and stand up for her community.

Weve seen so many attacks on our community, from the 700 people who were detained in Mississippi, most of them parents, to the attacks in El Paso and the children in cages thats been happening for two years, Guerrero said. Its incredible that people still are not able to see how this is wrong and how we need to change the system.

Decades later, the Orange Is the New Black star is still reeling from the trauma of her familys deportation. Since she was a young child, her parents had been candid with her about their undocumented status. Guerrero, who has birthright citizenship, lived in fear that one day she would return home to find her family gone a fear that eventually materialized.

The first thing that a child feels regardless of the facts is that it is their fault, Guerrero said. In any circumstances, whether the child stays behind or the child has to go back, its that they internalize it.

She says her path to stardom has been pure luck and suggests there could have been many different outcomes to her journey following the trauma of her childhood. She says the sound of the phone ringing or of sirens outside made her uneasy from a young age. The constant anxiety about her familys fate haunted her.

I internalized it and said, What did I do? What did I do to make this happen? Guerrero said. And so you live your life sort of walking on eggshells, fearing that your life is just going to implode at any minute or that youll ... ruin somebody elses life.