Actress Diane Guerreo was only 14 when she came home to find that her family was taken away by immigration officials. Her family was sent back to Columbia, and she was left to take care of herself until she became an adult. Luckily, family friends stepped in to take care of her. However, she has been separated from her family in Columbia ever since.

She wrote an Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times about her family’s ordeal on the heels of President Obama’s intention to introduce an Immigration Reform that could potentially curb deportations that separate families such as her own.

By sharing her story, Guerreo puts a very human face on immigration reform, which has been a hotly debated subject for years that effects millions of people across the country.