Former Washington Post reporter Jose Antonio Vargas has set off a new round of debate about immigration reform by revealing in The New York Times Magazine that he is in the U.S. illegally. Vargas, who shared a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings, says he left the Phillippines when he was 12, and came to live with his grandparents, both naturalized U.S. citizens, in California. It wasn't until he was 16 that he found out he was here illegally, when he tried to get a driver's license and was told at the DMV that the green card his grandfather had given him was a fake. Vargas says he has been looking over his shoulder ever since, and telling quite a few lies to cover his trail.
There are 11 million undocumented immigrants seeking a better life in the U.S., says Pema Levy at The American Prospect, but Vargas' moving story will demonstrate "the pain caused by our immigration system in a way faceless statistics cannot." Not so fast, says Bryan Preston at Pajamas Media. The liberals praising Vargas for his confession are overlooking the fact that he committed crimes to stay in this country, including using phony documents to get scholarships and "jobs that otherwise would have gone to others who are here legally." Here, an excerpt from Vargas' account of his life as an illegal immigrant:
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.