Vargas essay
“My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant” by Jose Antonio Vargas is in short a confession of an illegal immigrant from Philippines to the USA. His story is a typical one for such an immigrant: he came to the USA when he was 12, lived in his relative’s house, went to school, then to college and started working in a newspaper. During all this time he had fake documents, fake green card, fake Social Security card, fake drivers license. All 18 years, which he lived in America, he lived in fear of being discovered and deported back to Philippines with a ten-year ban on entry to the USA. His life is a continuous struggle for citizenship and acceptance. The author’s main goals are more liberal laws on immigration and legal status for existing undocumented immigrants.
In terms of ethos, J.A. Vargas establishes his authority on the topic by making an illustration on the topic from his own life as an undocumented immigrant. This gives ultimate credibility to his story. In general, author makes much use of emotional appeals, which is not surprising since his story is all about his life as an illegal immigrant. His appeals are used to excite sympathy: “I decided then that I could never give anyone reason to doubt I was an American. I convinced myself that if I worked enough, if I achieved enough, I would be rewarded with citizenship. I felt I could earn it. I’ve tried” (Vargas). Vargas is also trying to evoke compassion: “I grew up here. This is my home. Yet even though I think of myself as an American and consider America my country, my country doesn’t think of me as one of its own” (Vargas). His story ends with words “[My mother] also reminded me of the one piece of advice she gave me for blending in: If anyone asked why I was coming to America, I should say I was going to Disneyland” (Vargas). Moreover, he states that he is a gay male and such declaration deprives him of option to get legal status by marrying an American woman.
The author makes very little use of logical argumentation, which makes his arguments unconvincing. “I have something to contribute, – he states, – In April 2008, I was part of a Post team that won a Pulitzer Prize for the paper’s coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings a year earlier” (Vargas). But if we look on how he did achieve all this, using fake documents of all sorts to provide access to higher education and work. He even used an illegal Social Security number to attend a White House dinner. All which excites sympathy and compassion in his story: his continued fear of discovery, his hard work in journalism to gain recognition, even his Pulitzer Prize award – all is made as naught by a two simple words: illegal immigrant. From the viewpoint of law he, a successful journalist and some undocumented immigrant, who does “dirty work” are much the same. According to the immigration laws of the USA he must be deported back to Philippines with a ten-year ban. His wish for revision of immigration laws regarding undocumented immigrants means giving 11 million (the figure he gives in his article) such people legal status in the USA, most of whom don’t pay state and federal taxes and, unlike Vargas, made no considerable contribution to society.
