Documenting the Undocumented

Jose Antonio Vargas' first-person account of how he -- after being smuggled into the United States by his family as a child -- duped the American system with a series of false passports, green cards, Social Security cards and driver's licenses and became a Pulitzer-winning reporter for The Washington Post is a completely fascinating tale, although I'm not entirely sure it will have the pro-DREAM Act effect the author might have intended. For starters, Vargas was 12 -- not a newborn, not a 4-year-old -- when his mother sent him to live with his grandparents in Northern California, and within a few years, when he was learning to drive, he had a strong sense that what he was doing was illegal and wrong. Yet his (admirable) ambition (which his grandparents cautioned him against) and love of (this) country fueled his ability to repeatedly lie and violate the law. One could argue -- somewhat disingenuously -- that he still had close ties in the Philippines (his mother, siblings, extended family) and if he really felt so strongly about American values, he'd have gone back to pursue the "proper" immigration means. More disturbing to critics -- he was, after all, still a child and then a very young man as he forged his way into college -- will be the countless teachers and employers who turned a blind eye to his deceptions, including The Washington Post, which declined to run the piece. (It should be noted, however, that all of his co-conspirators were OK with being named in the article.) In the end, Vargas says he is coming clean because leading this secret life has become too much for him -- and perhaps that alone is reason enough to get the topic of immigration reform on the fast track, and to really examine what it really means to be "an American." As he said, people with "immigration problems" -- as he and his white-collar colleagues called it -- are people from all walks of life. That he's gay -- reruns of "The Golden Girls" helped him learn proper pronunciation(!) -- only adds to the intrigue. Read HERE.

 

"I'm an American. I just don't have the right papers." Jose has set up a site, DefineAmerican.com, to start a dialogue on the subject, and where he asks "What would you do?" if you were in the shoes of his teachers, counselors and employers. No mention of what his current status is -- is the INS coming after him?