Jose Antonio Vargas

Jose Antonio Vargas (2010)

Jose Antonio Vargas (born February 3, 1981 in Antipolo ) is a Filipino journalist and filmmaker . He was part of the team that received the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for coverage of the Virginia Tech rampage . He has lived in the United States since 1993 without a permit . Until his life story was published in 2011 in the New York Times , no one knew that he had immigrated illegally . Since then, Vargas has been an activist for a reform of immigration law in the USA - also because, like many illegal immigrants, there is currently no way for him to obtain a residence permit.

Life

Jose Vargas was sent by his mother to his grandparents in Mountain View, Santa Clara County , at the age of 12 without first arranging a residence permit. There he attended Mountain View High School . He didn't know he was a foreigner until, at the age of 16 , he tried to get a driver's license using the ID documents he received from his family, which were found to be fake. He kept this insight largely to himself and continued to use forged documents, including a green card and passport, as well as a driver's license.

His English teacher introduced him to journalism , and in 1998 he started an internship with a local newspaper . He then went to work for the San Francisco Chronicle and was assisted by his school principal and supervisor with a private third-party grant . He graduated from San Francisco State University with a bachelor's degree in political science and black studies . In 1999 , Vargas came out as a homosexual , saying that this was " less hopeless than speaking about his illegal residence ".

As an "undocumented American"

Varga's lawyers considered his going public in 2011 as “ legal suicide ”, but since then he has taken part unmolested in events and conferences as well as demonstrations on the situation and rights of immigrants in 43 different US states .

Also in 2011, he was banned from a Mitt Romney campaign rally for protesting with a sign held up: " I AM AN AMERICAN W / O PAPERS " ( I'm an American without papers ).

After about 21 years in the USA without a permit and several years as an activist and avowed illegal alien , he was detained on July 15, 2014 in McAllen (Texas) by the Customs and Border Protection for eight hours and, subject to the condition that he would appear before an immigration court give up, dismiss.

"I define 'American' as someone who works really hard, someone who is proud to be in this country and wants to contribute to it. I'm independent. I pay taxes. I'm self-sufficient. I'm an American, I just don't have the right papers. I take full responsibility for my actions, and I'm sorry for the laws that I have broken. "

“I define“ Americans ”as someone who works hard, as someone who is proud of this country and wants to contribute to it. I'm independent. I pay taxes. I am self-sufficient. I'm American, I just don't have the right papers. I take full responsibility for my actions and I regret breaking the law. "

- Jose Antonio Vargas

Create

The Washington Post

Immediately after graduation, Vargas started at the Washington Post , first looking at the boom in computer games . His reportage about a HIV - epidemic in Washington was received wide-ranging, in the section Politics he moved to the United States presidential election, 2008 , after the editor convinced with these words:

"You need someone to cover the presidential campaign who has a Facebook account and who looks at YouTube every day."

"For the presidential election campaigns you need someone who has a Facebook profile and is on YouTube every day ."

- Jose Vargas

There he portrayed Craigslist in 2004, for example .

On September 17, 2007, he published an article on Wikipedia's role in this campaign - on the front page of the Washington Post.

Pulitzer Prize

While at the Washington Post, he was part of the team that received the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News in April 2007 for reporting on the Virginia Tech rampage . Of the eight articles that the jury used for the award, he contributed significantly to three, including interviewing an eyewitness to the attack.

The Huffington Post

At a National Press Club event in Washington, Arianna Huffington became aware of him when Vargas was mistaken for an assistant waiter. In July 2009 he switched to her newspaper, the Huffington Post , where he developed the blog " Technology as Anthropology ".

Others

The documentary “ The Other City ” (2010) is based on Varga's article on HIV and AIDS in Washington. It has been shown at several film festivals.

In 2010, Vargas interviewed Mark Zuckerberg for the New York Times .

The film " Documented " by Vargas was shown on CNN in 2013 , in which he prepared his own life story.

Define American

“ Defining American ” is a non-profit organization that wants to initiate dialogues about what constitutes “ Americans ”. Defining American was founded by Vargas and is indirectly funded by George Soros .