Diego Luna slams Donald Trump’s immigration policies amid ICE raids

Diego Luna condemned Donald Trump’s aggressive mass deportation campaign across Los Angeles and the U.S. as guest host of Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday, reminding the administration that immigrants are the ones who built the country in a powerful monologue.

Introducing himself as from a “galaxy far, far away called Mexico” and listing his notable roles (“Cassian Andor from Star Wars, Félix Gallardo in Narcos, or that guy your mom thinks is Pedro Pascal”), the Mexican actor and director began the show by addressing the immigration raids in L.A. and beyond.

“With everything going on in this country around immigration and authoritarian policies of Donald Trump, it is no small thing that a Mexican is hosting such an important show,” Luna said. “It’s a big deal and I really hope not to f— it up.”

Namely, Luna spoke about L.A. and the community he found in the city after first coming to the U.S. in his 20s following the success of his 2001 film Y tu mamá también.

“The people that lifted me up were mostly people that had left their countries to find a new life, or the sons and daughters of immigrants that had come here in order to work and build a healthy, enjoyable and dignified life, away from their place of origin,” Luna said.

“A movement of that scale, that’s not natural, not unless something is very, very wrong in the place you are coming from,” the actor continued. “Nobody leaves their land if it’s not because their survival depends on it. Nobody leaves their past behind, just for fun. But you know what? All the people that I met shared an unspoken gratitude to this country, a country that opened its doors to them.”

Questioning how “someone like Donald Trump is able to acquire this level of power,” the Andor star added, “I always struggle to understand how his hate speech can take root in a country whose nature has always been a welcoming one.”

The “cultural exchange” in L.A., he said, is what makes the city “remarkable.”

Today, Luna continued, “many people are feeling persecuted. Far too many people live in fear. These people, they’re your neighbors, your friends. This is very unfair and let me tell you why: The multiple times that this country has had to rebuild itself, immigrants were always there to pick up the slack.”

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Referencing the wildfires that ravaged L.A. in January, Luna noted, “when L.A. burned, immigrant workers risked their lives to stop the flames. They are the ones who build this country, they feed it, they nurture and teach its children, they care for the elderly, they work in construction, hospitality, they run kitchens. They’re technicians, merchants, athletes, drivers, farmers. They pay a lot of taxes, a lot of them, with their jobs, papers or no papers.”

Luna added, “In 2022, undocumented immigrants contributed around $96.7 billion worth of taxes. But that is something that the Trump administration doesn’t want you to know.”

The actor challenged the “lies flying around about immigrants,” adding that immigrants “need to know that they’re not alone.”

He concluded, “These have been a dark few weeks. It is not acceptable nor is it normal to separate families. Violence and terror are not okay. Immigrants need to know that their struggle is yours as well.:

Trump has prioritized a crackdown on immigration in the months since returning to office, zeroing in on L.A. and deploying National Guard troops to quell anti-ICE protests across the city. Nationwide, protestors have also taken to the streets to voice opposition against detainment and deportation.