Government
Jose Antonio Vargas on How America Talks About Immigration
A conversation with the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and undocumented activist.
Jose Antonio Vargas wears many hats. He’s a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has worked for new organizations such as The Washington Post and The Huffington Post. He’s an Angeleno, Filipino, and gay. He’s also undocumented.
Vargas found out he wasn’t an American citizen at the DMV counter when he was 16, and for a large part of his adult life, kept this fact hidden. Then, in 2011, he came out about his legal status in very powerful personal essay for The New York Times Magazine. In it, Vargas recounted the burden of keeping such a massive secret, and concluded: