American TV star America Ferrera penned an open letter directed at Donald Trump in light of the sharp remarks he recently made toward Latino immigrants in his presidential campaign announcement speech.

In the letter published on the Latino Voices section of the Huffington Post, Ferrera said, "I heard what you said about the kind of people you think Latino immigrants are -- people with problems, who bring drugs, crime and rape to America. While your comments are incredibly ignorant and racist, I don't want to spend my time chastising you."

The "Ugly Betty" star said that Trump's  "poorly thought out speech" roused a fire in the Latino community. "Thank you, Mr. Trump! Remarks like yours will serve brilliantly to energize Latino voters and increase turnout on election day against you and any other candidate who runs on a platform of hateful rhetoric," added Ferrera, who is of Honduran descent.

In the campaign announcement speech Trump delivered on June 16, he gave pointed commentary on the relationship between the USA and Mexico.

"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're not sending you. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists," said the presidential hopeful, recorded in the transcript produced by the Wall Street Journal.

"I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I'll build them very inexpensively, I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall," added the celebrity billionaire, famous for the TV show "The Apprentice."

As a response to Trump's speech, Ferrera described the U.S. Latino population in her hard-hitting letter.

"Latinos are the largest, youngest and fastest-growing constituency in the United States of America. That's right! You are running for President in a country where the Latino population grew by over 49 percent from 2000-2012, while the rest of the country grew by 5.8 percent," she wrote.

"This is the America we are actually living in. I hope by now you understand that without the Latino vote, there is no chance of you ever winning this election," Ferrera added.

Following Trump's speech, NBC and Univision, an American Spanish language broadcasting network, renounced their ties with the billionaire, reported Deadline.

Colombian popstar Shakira also criticized Trump through social media. She shared her comments in two tweets that included parts of Trump's speech subtitled in Spanish.