OU to host subject of immigration documentary, Jose Antonio Vargas

By Joy Hampton
Senior Staff Writer – The Norman Transcript

Jose Antonio Vargas was just a kid growing up in California when he went to get his driver’s license. An immigrant from the Philippines, Vargas had come to America at age 12 to join his grandparents, who had immigrated earlier.

Now, ready to learn to drive, he was adjusting to the American way of life. He handed his green card to the clerk at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

That’s when his life changed forever — again.

Vargas was told that his ID was a fake and he should leave and not come back. Until that time, Vargas had assumed he was in the country legally. Now, he was an undocumented person, or to those who dehumanize the people living in America without proper credentials, an “illegal alien” or “illegal immigrant.”

While his grandparents were here legally, his grandfather had circumvented the law in the desperate hope of making his grandson’s life better than he could have found growing up in Manila, Philippines.

The story Vargas tells through his gutsy and highly personal documentary titled, “Undocumented,” is the story of many children brought to America by family members or others who were desperate enough for a better life for these children that they were willing to break the law.

Vargas said he was haunted by the constant fear of discovery.

“I lived the American dream, building a successful career as a journalist, but I was living a lie,” Vargas says in the film which raises questions about what it means to be American.

“Undocumented” was shown at the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma on Wednesday evening, but Vargas himself will soon visit the campus.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and immigration reform activist will speak at Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall in Catlett Music Center at 7 p.m. on Oct. 13 along with students and leaders from Oklahoma-based Aspiring Americans. The event is free and open to the public.

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists is the host for this event.

“There are 11 million undocumented people in America,” Vargas says in the film. “All of my life, I’ve hidden the fact I was undocumented.”

Coming out as a person who is in the country illegally was the hardest and scariest thing he’s ever had to do, he said. In high school, he came out as gay, but he and the people who loved him and helped him — including school officials and other American citizens — kept the secret of his illegal status under wraps.

Vargas admitted he was an undocumented immigrant in an essay published in The New York Times Magazine in 2011. The article attracted worldwide coverage. A year later, he appeared on the cover of TIME magazine with fellow undocumented immigrants.

He was inspired to reveal his secret by the Trail of Dreams 2010, a 1,500 mile walk from Miami, Florida to Washington, D.C. created by four students to support the passing of the DREAM Act or the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors. The bipartisan legislation was first introduced in Congress in 2001. While the DREAM Act has been reintroduced several times, including the big push in 2010, it has never been adopted into law.

The proposed federal legislation would provide conditional resident status to undocumented immigrant students of good moral character.

While the DREAM Act has failed to pass, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, was initiated by President Obama on June 15, 2012. Obama’s program grants deferred deportation to people under age 30 who came to the U.S. under age 16 and who meet other criteria.

Whie DACA as it is known was considered a huge victory at the time, Vargas was aged 31 and too old to qualify.

Under the program, qualifying candidates are allowed to be in the U.S. legally, apply for employment authorization and receive a Social Security number. DACA protection only lasts two years, but it can be renewed if the person meets the qualifications again.

Despite his very public revelation, Vargas has not been deported. He founded Define American, a non-profit media and culture organization that seeks to elevate the conversation around immigration and citizenship in America.

Vargas points out that these people are here and their cultural identity is as Americans. They work, pay taxes and contribute to society. All they ask is a path to citizenship — something that does not exist for undocumented persons under current laws.

When he learned of his undocumented status, Vargas became angry with his family. He felt alienated, alone and afraid. The life of an “illegal alien” was not something he chose for himself.

His grandparents had hoped he would meet a nice American girl, get married, and become a citizen. Besides being gay, marrying a citizen to gain citizenship is not as easy as some might think, especially for someone who is already in the country living as an undocumented person. And for most who are undocumented, there is no legal path to obtain citizenship. They are told to return home and get in line.

For children who grew up thinking of themselves as Americans, many of them unaware of their true undocumented status throughout childhood, the challenges this poses are overwhelming.

Shai (Mohammed) Fenwick led a discussion on immigration law following the screening of “Undocumented” on Wednesday. She said she immigrated to the U.S. from Trinidad-Tobago when she was 13. Her father was working in Houston but when her mother, who kept track of the family paperwork, became gravely ill with breast cancer, Fenwick spent a portion of her childhood not having full documentation.

Her mother died in 2000, shortly before 9/11. Trying to resolve problems of documentation after the fall of the Twin Towers was even more frightening for a Muslim family, she said.

People from a number of nations may send their children to America, with or without proper papers.

“America seems like a safer place,” she said.

Vargas’ story as portrayed in the film, “Undocumented,” reflects the reality of millions of lives.

“This is an American story,” Fenwick said.

Copyright 2015 by The Norman Transcript. Provided by AP Exchange.

The Gayly – October 10, 2015 @ 1:10pm.