Whether Courage or Not, Illegal Immigrant’s Story Has Impact

Details: 19 August 2011

The story of Jose Antonio Vargas is fascinating and compelling; the kind that fits the movie mold. Someday, perhaps.

He is an award-winning journalist who has worked for several high-profile news enterprises, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Philadelphia Daily News, Washington Post and Huffington Post. He covered the role of technology and social media during the 2008 presidential race. He has visited the White House and covered a state dinner. He was one of a team of Washington Post reporters awarded a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the shootings at Virginia Tech University in 2007.

Jose Antonio Vargas is also an illegal immigrant. He has been unauthorized since arriving in this country 18 years ago. He disclosed his status publicly in an essay published in the New York Times Magazine June 25 of this year.

Vargas is a native of the Philippines. In 1993, when he was 12, his single mother, seeking to provide a better life for her son, arranged for him to fly with an "uncle" to the U.S. to live with his grandparents, who were naturalized American citizens residing in California. He learned later that the "uncle" was really a "coyote," who was paid $4,500 by the grandfather to smuggle the youngster into the U.S., using a fake name and a fake passport. Subsequently, his grandfather found a way to purchase a new, fake Filipino passport in Jose Antonio’s real name and a fraudulent "green card." Using the fake passport, he was able to obtain a Social Security number and card, although that card designated a restriction for INS-authorized work only. His grandfather doctored that card with a well-placed sliver of white tape and then made photocopies that looked like copies of a regular, unrestricted Social Security card.

Vargas graduated from high school in California. He was able to attend and graduate from San Francisco State University, thanks to a specialized scholarship program that had no inquiry about immigration status. During college, matters fell into place for some internships. After graduation, he continued his career as a journalist, which has included "interviewing some of the most famous people in the country."

"On the surface, I’ve created a good life. I’ve lived the American dream," Vargas wrote in his recent essay. "But I am still an undocumented immigrant. And that means living a different kind of reality. It means going about my day in fear of being found out. It means rarely trusting people, even those closest to me, with who I really am…. It means reluctantly, even painfully, doing things I know are wrong and unlawful. And it has meant relying on a sort of 21st-century underground railroad of supporters: people who took an interest in my future and took risks for me.

"I’m done running. I’m exhausted. I don’t want that life anymore."

Some have called Jose Antonio Vargas courageous for his admissions. Others have said there is nothing courageous about admitting to being unlawful and to using fraudulent documents.

"I don’t know what the consequences will be of telling my story," Vargas wrote.

It seems more doubtful than likely that an enforcement action involving deportation will be initiated against Vargas. He doesn’t seem to fit the most recent indication of enforcement policy.

On June 17, the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a memorandum advising agency personnel of additional guidance for "exercising prosecutorial discretion consistent with the civil immigration enforcement priorities of the agency…." Particular care and consideration are to be given to the following negative factors: individuals who pose a risk to national security; serious felons, repeat offenders, or individuals with a lengthy criminal record or any kind; known gang members or others who pose a clear danger to public safety; individuals with an egregious record of immigration violations, including those with a record of illegal re-entry (emphasis added) and those who have engaged in immigration fraud.

One impact of the Vargas story is that it adds to the bulk of evidence that the U.S. immigration system is inefficient, ineffective, broken and greatly in need of comprehensive reform. A 12-year-old immigrant who proceeds to cultivate his opportunities into noteworthy accomplishments and success, as well as tax payments, and who, after 18 years of doing so, thinks of himself as an American, should have a path of conditions to earn legalization and should not face the consequences of deportation, which now include a minimum 10-year bar on even reapplying for a visa.

And finally…. It didn’t take long for there to be a legislative push back on the memorandum issued by the head of ICE. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) blasted the memo and is already sponsoring legislation that would freeze the administration’s power to grant "amnesty" to unauthorized immigrants by prioritizing enforcement. Apparently, Rep. Smith has concluded that emphasizing priorities-based prosecutorial discretion is too loose and dangerous. His reaction seems to fit what a media blog from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recently called "Whac-a-Mole immigration policy."