// Journalist longs to be legal in the country he loves - Philadelphia Daily News
// February 1, 2012 at 4:13 PM
JOSE ANTONIO Vargas, a former Daily News intern and Washington Post Pulitzer Prize winner, was on a New York subway last summer when a Hispanic woman yelled out to him: "El Chino!"
"She told me she also doesn't have papers," said Vargas, who outed himself as an undocumented immigrant in a 4,600-word article in June in the New York Times Magazine.
And at a Starbucks near his Greenwich Village apartment, a young white girl also recognized him, saying: "You're the Asian guy on Colbert!"
(Vargas, by the way, isn't Chinese; he's Filipino.)
Since his Times piece, Vargas has been interviewed on ABC's "Nightline," CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, NPR, by Stephen Colbert and in numerous print and Web outlets.
He realizes that, at any moment, he can be arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and deported back to the Philippines.
"I am prepared for that," he said as we sat last month on red-leather seats inside his one-bedroom New York apartment tucked inside a tan-brick building above a shoe store.
"Yeah, I'm fearful just like any undocumented person is fearful," he said. "I've always been looking over my shoulder. I've always had this nagging feeling that someone could pick me up."
No one from ICE has contacted him, though.
Luis Martinez, ICE spokesman in the New York field office, did not recognize Vargas' name or his story when asked by the Daily News. He said he could not discuss an individual case because of the agency's privacy policy.
Ross Feinstein, an ICE spokesman in Washington, said the agency focuses its enforcement efforts on people who present the most significant threats to public safety, including "those convicted of crimes" and "egregious immigration-law violators."
Vargas, who does not fall into those categories, said: "In some ways, I think what I've basically done is kind of just dared the entire system. I don't think you could have been more public; it's as public as one could get."
Not just about me
Vargas was in Florida this week, ahead of the state's critical primary. On Monday night, he spoke to an audience of more than 120 at the University of Florida's Bob Graham Center for Public Service in Gainesville about his immigration story and about the country's record deportation levels under President Obama.
He also touched on the Republican presidential candidates' race, commenting on a statement made by Mitt Romney, who suggested that illegal immigrants who couldn't find work under his plan would "self-deport."
"I am not self-deporting myself," Vargas told the university audience, according to the Gainesville Sun. "Mitt Romney would have to deport me himself if he wanted to."
Vargas is hoping that his coming out in such a public way and that a new organization he co-founded, Define American (www.defineamerican.com), will propel others - especially other illegal immigrants and legal residents who support them - to share their stories in public.
He wants to get people talking, discussing, debating immigration issues on a deeper, more human level.
"There's a lot of immigration groups; there's a lot of activism that's happening and advocacy that's happening," he said. "What role do I play in that?"
"I'm just one story. . . . Define American is really important in making sure that we provide a platform where [all] people can tell their stories."
He realizes that legislation such as the DREAM Act, which would provide a pathway to legal residency for young people who were brought to the U.S. as children and who attend college or serve in the military, is unlikely to pass Congress this presidential election year.
The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act was introduced 10 years ago by Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Dick Durbin, D-Ill. A later version of it passed the U.S. House in December 2010, but was blocked in the Senate.
Obama supports the DREAM Act, alluding to it in his State of the Union address last week, urging Congress to act to "stop expelling responsible young people who want to staff our labs, start new businesses, defend this country. Send me a law that gives them the chance to earn their citizenship. I will sign it right away."
Path to prominence
Vargas was 12 in 1993, when his mother put him on a plane in their native Philippines, telling him to go with an "uncle" to Mountain View, Calif., about 45 minutes south of San Francisco, where her parents lived. It was the last time he's seen his mother, who hasn't been able to get even a tourist visa to visit him.
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// February 1, 2012 at 4:13 PM
JOSE ANTONIO Vargas, a former Daily News intern and Washington Post Pulitzer Prize winner, was on a New York subway last summer when a Hispanic woman yelled out to him: "El Chino!"
"She told me she also doesn't have papers," said Vargas, who outed himself as an undocumented immigrant in a 4,600-word article in June in the New York Times Magazine.
And at a Starbucks near his Greenwich Village apartment, a young white girl also recognized him, saying: "You're the Asian guy on Colbert!"
(Vargas, by the way, isn't Chinese; he's Filipino.)
Since his Times piece, Vargas has been interviewed on ABC's "Nightline," CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, NPR, by Stephen Colbert and in numerous print and Web outlets.
He realizes that, at any moment, he can be arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and deported back to the Philippines.
"I am prepared for that," he said as we sat last month on red-leather seats inside his one-bedroom New York apartment tucked inside a tan-brick building above a shoe store.
"Yeah, I'm fearful just like any undocumented person is fearful," he said. "I've always been looking over my shoulder. I've always had this nagging feeling that someone could pick me up."
No one from ICE has contacted him, though.
Luis Martinez, ICE spokesman in the New York field office, did not recognize Vargas' name or his story when asked by the Daily News. He said he could not discuss an individual case because of the agency's privacy policy.
Ross Feinstein, an ICE spokesman in Washington, said the agency focuses its enforcement efforts on people who present the most significant threats to public safety, including "those convicted of crimes" and "egregious immigration-law violators."
Vargas, who does not fall into those categories, said: "In some ways, I think what I've basically done is kind of just dared the entire system. I don't think you could have been more public; it's as public as one could get."
Not just about me
Vargas was in Florida this week, ahead of the state's critical primary. On Monday night, he spoke to an audience of more than 120 at the University of Florida's Bob Graham Center for Public Service in Gainesville about his immigration story and about the country's record deportation levels under President Obama.
He also touched on the Republican presidential candidates' race, commenting on a statement made by Mitt Romney, who suggested that illegal immigrants who couldn't find work under his plan would "self-deport."
"I am not self-deporting myself," Vargas told the university audience, according to the Gainesville Sun. "Mitt Romney would have to deport me himself if he wanted to."
Vargas is hoping that his coming out in such a public way and that a new organization he co-founded, Define American (www.defineamerican.com), will propel others - especially other illegal immigrants and legal residents who support them - to share their stories in public.
He wants to get people talking, discussing, debating immigration issues on a deeper, more human level.
"There's a lot of immigration groups; there's a lot of activism that's happening and advocacy that's happening," he said. "What role do I play in that?"
"I'm just one story. . . . Define American is really important in making sure that we provide a platform where [all] people can tell their stories."
He realizes that legislation such as the DREAM Act, which would provide a pathway to legal residency for young people who were brought to the U.S. as children and who attend college or serve in the military, is unlikely to pass Congress this presidential election year.
The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act was introduced 10 years ago by Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Dick Durbin, D-Ill. A later version of it passed the U.S. House in December 2010, but was blocked in the Senate.
Obama supports the DREAM Act, alluding to it in his State of the Union address last week, urging Congress to act to "stop expelling responsible young people who want to staff our labs, start new businesses, defend this country. Send me a law that gives them the chance to earn their citizenship. I will sign it right away."
Path to prominence
Vargas was 12 in 1993, when his mother put him on a plane in their native Philippines, telling him to go with an "uncle" to Mountain View, Calif., about 45 minutes south of San Francisco, where her parents lived. It was the last time he's seen his mother, who hasn't been able to get even a tourist visa to visit him.
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1 | 2 | 3 Next»
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