Benicio Del Toro calls for better treatment of migrants after 'heartbreaking' US border crisis

Benicio Del Toro in the action thriller Sicario
Richard Foreman, Jr. SMPSP/Lionsgate

Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro has said the separation of families at the US border is “heartbreaking” — and called for migrants to be treated more fairly.

The 51-year-old, who won the best supporting actor award for his role in Traffic in 2001, is starring in the sequel to “war on drugs” thriller Sicario.

The film depicts the human side of the migrant crisis, focusing on traffickers, child exploitation and dangerous treks across the Mexico-US border.

At a preview in Soho hosted by magazine Drugstore Culture, Del Toro said: “What is happening with the separation of these families is heartbreaking … The vast majority are good people, and just the idea of leaving your home … to roll the dice, most of the time it is out of total, total despair. They should not be treated like they are guilty.”

Del Toro connected the crisis with his experience as a citizen of Puerto Rico, where his father lives with a US passport but cannot vote.

In Sicario 2: Day Of The Soldado, Del Toro stars as a Mexican prosecutor-turned-assassin seeking revenge on the cartel bosses who killed his family.

  • Londoners will be offered a free Wild Turkey 101 Old Fashioned at Sicario screenings at Everyman cinemas

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in