Jose Antonio Vargas Thinks Immigration Is a Bipartisan Mess
Interview by Dan Amira
Oct. 2, 2018
The title of your new memoir is “Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen.†According to the law, you’re not a citizen. What does being a citizen mean to you? I wasn’t born here. I don’t have the right papers to be here, but I am here. After coming out as an undocumented citizen, I’ve evolved in my thinking about what “citizen†means — I think it’s that we’re accountable to each other. We share this country, we share a contract with a bunch of people, and I can’t just be screaming at the top of my lungs. I’ve got to be able to hear others.
Do you feel that you’re a better citizen than many legal citizens? I’m not sure that’s for me to judge. But that’s precisely the conversation: that people like me should earn our citizenship. But for my fellow Americans who happened to be born here — what have they done to earn their citizenship?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/magazine/jose-antonio-vargas-thinks-immigration-is-a-bipartisan-mess.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
