The Trump administration's polarizing "zero tolerance" immigration policy, which has resulted in the separation and detainment of hundreds of children who have crossed into the U.S. illegally with their parents in recent weeks, has prompted two TV series to take action.
The writing staffs of Netflix's "One Day at a Time" and Starz's "Vida," both Latinx-centric shows, have teamed up to "end family separation at the border," as "One Day at a Time" executive producer Gloria Kellett wrote Tuesday on Twitter to her more than 18,000 followers.
"Vida" showrunner Tanya Saracho, noting the tent cities that have sprouted in Texas to house scores of immigrant children, proclaimed: "We have to do something."
The two shows' writing staffs have encouraged people to donate to the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), a nonprofit Texas organization raising funds for legal assistance and to help parents post bond out of immigration jails.
To help drum up support, both teams also challenged the writing staffs of "Jane the Virgin," the veteran CW dramedy, and "Grand Hotel," ABC's upcoming prime-time soap, to join the campaign.
It's the latest call to arms from Hollywood over the immigration policy. Recent days have seen luminaries such as Judd Apatow, Seth MacFarlane and Steve Levitan criticize Fox News over its coverage of the issue.
On Tuesday, director Ava DuVernay posted a photo of herself as a child with the message: "I look at myself as a girl and imagine having to travel unsafely in a quest for safety. Be forcibly separated from my mother. Caged with people I don't know and who don't know me. Alone in a world I don't understand. Imagine this for the child you were. We cannot allow this."
