Jose Vargas asks government for protection against deportation

JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS, who we last saw at the Texas border with Mexico (See earlier blog below) has kept himself busy. 

Days after speaking at the Asian American Journalists Association's annual convention held in Washington D.C., Vargas and 10 other undocumented immigrants held a press conference to put themselves on the line and to push the Obama administration to act on immigration reform and the status of the 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. In doing so, he puts himself at risk of immediate deportation.

The ball is now in the court of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson at which time deportation would be delayed or immediate. The decision could come any day.

The Pulitzer-prize winning journalist came out of the shadows in 2011 to become one of the leading spokesman for undocumented immigrants and immigration reform.

Here's the CNN report of August 21:

(CNN) -- Filmmaker and activist Jose Antonio Vargas and 10 others asked the U.S. government on Wednesday to halt deportation proceedings against undocumented immigrants like themselves who have strong and productive ties to the United States.

In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, they requested that he defer such punitive action and then ask President Barack Obama to consider "administrative relief" to those "who are integral members of our evolving American community."

Vargas and the others said in their letter that they represent just a few of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

"Often, we're treated as abstractions, nameless and faceless, subjects of debate rather than individuals with families, hopes, fears, and dreams," they wrote.

Undocumented leader: 'We're tired'

Undocumented activist of CNN film detained

"Over the past decades, we have been working, worshiping in churches, going to school, and contributing to the communities we call home. We love, fight for, and pledge allegiance to an America whose flag does not recognize us," they added.

In a statement, Johnson's office did not mention the letter, but said he has "been taking a hard look" at "tough issues" around shortcomings in immigration policy and working to submit recommendations to Obama within "the confines of existing law."

Customs and Border Patrol agents detained Vargas, also an award-winning journalist, last month in McAllen, Texas, after learning of his immigration status.

Immigration question: How far can the President go on executive actions?

He was there to call attention to the plight of tens of thousands of migrant youth from Central America, many of them unaccompanied, who have streamed across the southern border this year.

The surge has strained border services and reignited the debate over immigration reform in Washington, a cause that Vargas promotes.

A decision by Johnson to grant the request would delay any deportation proceedings with the hope that Obama would then use his executive authority to expand deportation protections or that Congress would agree to an overhaul of immigration law.

Obama used his executive authority in 2012 to grant work authorization for two years or more for those who came to the United States as children. Vargas missed the age eligibility by only months.

With Congress divided, Obama to go his own way on immigration

Dreaming with the American dreamers

Just a reminder: While most of the media focus is on Mexicans crossing the border, the attraction to the United States is still strong among Filipinos. Immigration reform and issues are still major issues for Filipinos.

(The question that raises up in my mind is why isn't there any media concern about all the Canadians crossing over the border with America and taking American jobs and American dollars? People like -- Justin Beiber, Ryan Gosling, Michael Cera, to name a few?)

As the video illustrates, you may know some undocumented Americans but don't know it. They are just like you and I and impossible to identify as undocumented unless they have the courage to come and admit it.

Undocumented Filipinos have along been an issue with the Filipino American communitiy that they've come up with a term for it. If you are here without the proper paperwork, you are called TNT. Tago ng tago basically means "hiding" or maintaining such a low profile that one has disappeared. 

Many young people who were brought here at an early age had no idea that their parents were TNT and that they, themselves, were not citizens of this country until they sought financial aid for college or tried to sign up with the military.

Other tidbits:

• The waiting period for someone from the Philippines to the United States can be as long as 23 years.
• According to the latest Census of 2010, there are more first-generation Filipino immigrants than there are Filipino Americans (those born and raised in the U.S.).
• As a result, Filipinos make up the 2nd biggest Asian ethnic group in the U.S. (Chinese are first). According to a recent survey by PEW, Filipinos from the Philippines like the United States more than Americans do. (More on this in an upcoming post.)

As for the most recent border boondoggle where thousands of Central American kids have been caught trying to enter the U.S., many critics are quick to shout "Send them home." The law requiring that we give them hearings is a law that was signed by the last President Bush -- a Republican. 

The U.S. has given refugee status to people from dictator-run countries, from the old communist bloc and other countries we don't like. But what if the country they are fleeing doesn't have a government and it is run by a bunch of gangsters and if you don't join their gang, they kill you? The second video explains the situation under two minutes and worth watching then ask yourself, "do you still want to send them home to almost certain death?" That's a tougher question now, right?

Look, I'm for control of our borders and yes, most countries wouldn't give a second thought to sending the kids home -- but this is America, and we're supposed to be better than other countries. We're supposed to be exceptional.

Lest we forget ... greeting all ships in New York harbor is the Statue of Liberty:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free;
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless,
Tempest-tossed to me
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!