Vargas Antonio, Jose. “ My life as Undocumented Immigrant.” The New York Times, InsideNYTimes.com. , June 22,2011. Web, 9 Sep. 2011.
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Jose wants to prove that being American doesn’t mean having the proper documentation, it means living the American way of life. That no matter how much he feels like an American he still has to live in constant a fear that has been with him since he was 16. This made him live his life under the radar in a career that is all about the spot light. He compares the idea that being an illegal citizen is still much harder for him to come out about than it was to admit that he was gay. Which came out rather easily even though it carried large consequences, the ability to keep in his deepest secret is a difficult battle that will never go away as long as he is in America. His successes no matter how great and varied from his graduations, articles, and awards; still wouldn’t make him a legal citizen. The life he has in America is worth the constant fear of deportation; all of the jobs from prestigious newspapers made it all worth it. But there is a breaking point where he becomes tired and just wanted to tell the world his secret, to see his family he left when he was just a boy to see the life he almost lived if it wasn’t for his illegal time spent in America.
The struggle he felt is the struggle that is one that is felt by some 12 million illegal immigrants. The perception of illegal immigrants is that they are destroying America, when several million workers are strawberry pickers, maids, and waitress that just wanted a better life for both themselves and their families. Even some of Jose’s educational and career prestige still could not find a way to become a legal citizen. The article is really something to think about, should there be a reform law to include citizenship through education? When he revealed he statues to his bosses they were shocked to think of him as an illegal immigrant, someone’s as brilliant and high functioning member of society to be here illegally. I personally have some knowledge on this subject; I worked a summer job at a land scraping company where I met Mexican workers here without visas. I had the view that Jose mention on peoples view towards illegal’s, after working a hard job together we learned that we weren’t so different we liked sports, girls, and our families; we bonded. Just like Jose and the other immigrants have bonded to America.
