Netflix has just released the seventh and final season of its popular prison drama, Orange Is the New Black , and actress Diane Guerrero is sharing her thoughts on a particularly “heartbreaking” episode, according to a report from TVLine .
At the beginning of the season, it’s not immediately clear what happened to Guerrero’s character, Litchfield inmate Maritza Ramos, or where she ended up. However, as the season progresses, it’s revealed that Maritza had been released from prison and was now trying to adjust to life after lockup. Unfortunately, Maritza’s freedom is soon taken away again after she gets arrested during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid at a club in Brooklyn. Maritza is taken to PolyCon’s newly created detainment center, where she’s held despite insisting that she’s a citizen of the United States. Maritza believes if she can get in touch with her estranged mother, she’ll be able to prove her status by showing her birth certificate.
While in detention, Maritza reunites with her prison best friend, Flaca, who sets out to find the proof her BFF needs. Eventually, Flaca manages to contact Maritza’s mother, but it’s soon revealed that there is no birth certificate and Maritza was born in Colombia, which means she is not actually a U.S. citizen.
After learning the truth, Maritza is determined to find herself and good lawyer and starts helping the women around her to do the same. Unfortunately, her plan to find legal representation fails and viewers watched as she’s led to a plane by an armed I.C.E. guard then fades away as the episode ends.
“When she’s sitting on that plane, it’s heartbreaking, but it’s what actually happens — a moment where you feel so alone, when you don’t know what the future holds, and then that’s it,” Guerrero said. “That person is gone and we don’t hear from them. Leaving it at that place, that place of uncertainty, is what a lot of people are experiencing right now.”
“We are seeing the situation worsen. We’re seeing more people suffer,” she continued. “It just shows you that we need to come together. We need to get people in Washington who are going to fight for human rights. And I’m just glad that Orange is on the right side of history.”
In addition to Maritza’s story, this season also focuses a lot on Laura Gómez’s Blanca Flores, who finds herself in the same detention center after her permanent resident status was revoked. There’s also Karina Arroyave’s Diana Cardóva, a woman from El Salvador who was detained after the untimely death of her husband left her to raise two small boys on her own.
Season 7 of Orange Is the New Black is currently available for streaming on Netflix.