On May 10, 2011, President Barack Obama addressed a crowd in El Paso, Texas on the issue of comprehensive immigration reform. "This flow of immigrants has helped make this country stronger and more prosperous," he said, suggesting a policy change that seeks to fix what he characterized as a "broken system".
A key part of this reform is the DREAM Act, a bill that was defeated in the Senate in December 2010, and which would have legitimized undocumented students, providing a path to legal residency. In the months since, several states including California, Kansas, New York and Maryland, have passed versions of the legislation, extending in-state tuition to undocumented students.
This is the political context in which Vargas' story takes place. Currently, children of undocumented immigrants -- many of whom were born in the United States -- are themselves considered to be 'illegal'. They aren't eligible for work and educational opportunities. They face deportation. "Last year I read about four students who walked from Miami to Washington to lobby for the Dream Act," Vargas writes. "At the risk of deportation — the Obama administration has deported almost 800,000 people in the last two years — they are speaking out. Their courage has inspired me."
"My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant" tells the story of Vargas' entry into the United States as a boy from the Phillipines, and the nearly two decades of secrecy that followed. Vargas' success -- he built a career as a feted journalist -- adds an important dimension to the issue. The immigration debate has tended to center on migrant workers from Mexico and South America, a group that is largely powerless and nearly invisible in a political context. Vargas is neither. "On the surface, I’ve created a good life. I’ve lived the American dream," he writes. "I’m done running. I’m exhausted. I don’t want that life anymore."
By exposing himself, Vargas is using his cultural power to tell a story that's been all-too easy to ignore. "There are believed to be 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. We’re not always who you think we are. Some pick your strawberries or care for your children. Some are in high school or college. And some, it turns out, write news articles you might read. I grew up here. This is my home. Yet even though I think of myself as an American and consider America my country, my country doesn’t think of me as one of its own."
Follow Jose Antonio Vargas on Twitter at @joseiswriting.
