Jose Antonio Vargas Quotes
-
When you watch the way some of the commentators talk about this, it makes it seem as if people are crossing the border every second. How much money have we spent on the border? Why? And who's really exploiting whom?" And then he gets quiet. But I think just airing these out and having a face-to-face conversation about it helps both of us internalize what the conversation is really about. I don't think we have that in the public sphere.
→ -
I have no control over what people call me. The only thing I have control over is my work, and that's really all I can be judged on.
→ -
Giving people like me a green card, a passport, and a driver's license? That's not going to be the end of the immigration conversation and debate in this country. It's like saying we elected Barack Obama president, so all of the racial problems are done. Right? I mean in some ways, the immigration conversation is just starting. Which is why when we started this campaign, we didn't call it Define Immigrant, we called it Define American. That's the question. That's what's at stake.
→ -
The last thing reporters and editors want to be told is what to do and how to write. They don't want to be some politically correct, Orwellian, kind of like "you're telling me how to write about...?"
→ -
The immigration bill is going to pass. We're going to have a bill. It's going to get through the Senate. I think the fundamentals are there and the foundation is strong and the bill is going to happen. The House is going to be trickier, but I think it's going to happen there too.
→ -
For Filipino Americans, it's a battle for recognition, for identity in a culture where, for the mainstream, Asians tend to fade into a monochromatic racialized 'other.'
→ -
Together, undocumented people like me and our relatives, friends and allies wait for broader immigration reform, not just for Dreamers but also for undocumented workers of all ages and backgrounds who contribute to our economic security and prosperity.
→ -
You have to stand for something bigger than yourself.
→ -
I remember the first thing I did when I found out I was illegal was to get rid of my thick Filipino accent. I figured that I had to talk white and talk black at the same time, like Charlie Rose and Dr. Dre. If I can talk white and black then no one is ever going to think that I'm "illegal."
→ -
I'm not a politician. I'm not a policy wonk. I was a political reporter, but that's not really what turns me on. What turns me on is how people perceive the issue and how people see people like me.
→ -
Like other undocumented people in this country, I want a green card, and I want a driver's license, and I want a passport. What, to me, is the immigration bill? It's a green card, a driver's license, and a passport. That's what it's about to me, tangibly. That I could see my mom. That I could drive. Is there anything more American than driving? That I could get a green card and be able to - right now, I'm just like freelancing and working as an independent contractor. It's hilarious. I'm unhirable.
→ -
For some people, I got away with something. And you know what? That's a fair thing to say, for them. I'm not saying I agree with that, but I can see how they can say that. But it's a matter of just like...you know, I'm really fortunate. As a journalist, I don't have to agree with you to talk to you. My job is to figure out why you think the way you think. I want to get to the root of why you think the way you think. That's what I find most fascinating as a storyteller.
→ -
To this day writing is the most painful thing to do.
→ -
One of the things I had to really wrap my head around is I have no control over what people call me: advocate, activist, gay, Filipino, undocumented person, gay person with an Asian face and Latino name.
→ -
I am not the 'illegal' you think I am, and immigration is not what you think it is.
→ -
The No. 1 question I get is, "Do you believe in an open-borders policy?" I'm like, wait a second: What does that really mean? When you say open-borders policy, do you mean that - this is like the US-Mexico border? We put up a sign that says "Keep Out," then 10 yards in we say, "Job Wanted." Is that what people mean by open borders? So that usually shuts people up. But that's the truth.
→ -
If I could, I'd go city by city, county by county, town by town, and talk to people to explain to them what immigration is really about - that this is not about me, this is not about us, this is not about us taking something from you. This is not about us being a threat to you. This is not about Democrat or Republican, and this is not really about border security. But in some ways our politics, and in many ways our politicians, have gotten in the way.
→ -
The greatest gift that we have as human beings is our ability to empathize. That's why I think personal stories matter so much. That's someone's mom. That's someone's daughter. That's someone's son.
→ -
I got here when I was 12, I found out I was undocumented when I was 16, I became a journalist when I was 17, and all I ever did was write other stories to run away from myself.
→ -
Something is fundamentally amiss when you refer to a person as illegal. Bottom line. That's why we so easily talk about this like we're talking about plants or crops. These illegals. My God, man, it's so tragic to me traveling around this country, this country that is getting more and more Latino, and you hear people use the words "illegal" and "Mexican" interchangeably. Interchangeably. Without blinking an eye.
→ -
When people call me illegal, calling me illegal says more about you than it does about me.
→ -
The only reason I became a writer was so I could exist on a piece of paper.
→ -
To be in America illegally is actually a civil offense and not a criminal one.
→ -
No amount of success - whatever that means, quote-unquote success - no amount of success replaces the reality of being separated from my family for this long.
→ -
A friend said to me I'm like a walking New Yorker article. It's true! That's how I write. That's how I think.
→ -
I'm not excusing the illegal act. I am here illegally. I'm here illegally, without authorization. That's a fact. That's nothing you can call the Orwellian cops about. But I am a human being, so therefore I am not illegal. That's also a fact.
→ -
I like Q&A's better than articles sometimes because I feel like I'd rather hear somebody actually talk or wrestle with.
→ -
The hardest stories we tell are always about ourselves. How do you explain that you have been missing your mother for 20 years? I don't know how to explain that to you. I wasn't even sure I wanted to film that, because I don't know how I felt about it. I didn't want to put her through it, and I frankly wasn't ready. Because since I was 16, I just had created my own life for myself, you know? I left when I was 12. I'm 32. And I have gotten to know my mother more through editing her and looking and watching and editing her footage, you know.
→ -
Independent of politics, the changing narrative on immigration is directly correlated to the fact that we have new technologies that are allowing people to talk to each other and tell their own stories and organize themselves.
→ -
To me, it's just that social media is allowing people to be in charge of their own narratives.
→
Related Authors
-
Barack Obama 44th U.S. President -
Roxane Gay Writer -
Andrew Napolitano Judge -
Maulik Pancholy Actor -
Hillary Clinton Former United States Secretary of State -
Elena Kagan Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States -
Janet Napolitano Former United States Secretary of Homeland Security -
Leon Panetta Former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency -
Jan Brewer Governor of Arizona -
Steven Chu Former United States Secretary of Energy -
Susan Rice United States Ambassador to the United Nations -
Harry Reid United States Senator -
Nancy Pelosi Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives -
Eric Shinseki Former United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs -
William J. Clinton 42nd U.S. President -
Joe Arpaio Maricopa County Sheriff's Office -
Jerry Brown Governor of California -
Michael Chertoff Former United States Secretary of Homeland Security -
Michelle Malkin Blogger -
Joseph Pulitzer Publisher