Gina Rodriguez is developing two shows focused on immigration. And after the shocking DACA announcement, we need these shows more than ever.
One day after Donald Trump’s DACA announcement, it has been revealed that Gina Rodriguez will be producing shows about a teenaged illegal immigrant and a Latina doctor.
According to Deadline, The CW is developing the show Illegal, which is one of two shows Rodriguez sold as part of her I Can & I Will Productions. The other show is called Have Mercy, which is a medical show based on the German show Dr. Illegal.
Illegal is based on Jane the Virgin writer Rafael Agustin’s own life. He was born in Ecuador, but grew up in America and didn’t learn he was undocumented until he was in high school. The show will follow him as he both deals with being a teenager and has this huge bombshell dropped on him.
Have Mercy, meanwhile, is about a Latina doctor who can’t practice medicine when she immigrates to Miami. However, she risks everything when she opens her own clinic in her apartment to help her community.
After 800,000 lives were thrown into turmoil after Trump’s DACA announcement, these shows are more important than ever. Attorney General Jeff Sessions mentioned protecting the country against “crime, violence, and terrorism,” when making the DACA announcement. But that’s just wrong. The majority of DACA recipients are employed and have never committed a crime.
These shows, though, portray immigrants for who they truly are: normal Americans like a hormonal teenager and a hard-working doctor.
For her part, Rodriguez has always stood up for immigrants’ rights. Her show Jane the Virgin has dealt with immigration, and she’s made a few statements herself.
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Back at the 2016 TIME 100 Gala, Rodriguez was asked about the debate over immigration during the Presidential election. “We need to keep families together and not in detention homes,” she said. “The fact that it’s even called that makes you feel uncomfortable knowing that there’s no care for people as human beings.”