Jose Antonio Vargas makes history as first undocumented Trustee of the California State University system

DEFINE AMERICAN

Jose Antonio Vargas has become an advocate for undocumented Americans.

In an historic appointment, Jose Antonio Vargas has been named the first undocumented person and first Filipino American to serve as a regularly appointed member of the Board of Trustees for the California State University system. 

The California State Senate approved Vargas’ nomination for a seat on the 25-member board on June 19 following an appointment by Governor Gavin Newsom in July 2022. As a trustee, Jose will be part of the key decision making body to adopt policies and regulations that govern the nation’s largest public four-year university system in areas such as educational policy, finance, and campus planning.

“As a proud graduate of San Francisco State — Class of 2004, before there was DACA, when the Dream Act was three years old, and when there was little vocabulary and support for undocumented students and our families — I am honored, humbled, and excited to serve this community,” said Jose Antonio Vargas, founder and president of Define American.

Vargas' unpaid 8-year term expires in 2030.

Vargas came to the United States from the Philippines when he was 12-years old leaving his mother in the Philippines to live with relatives in the San Francisco Bay Area. As his life unfolded, he navigated school, then college and work as an undocumented person, eventually earning a degree in political science from San Francisco State University.

After graduating, he worked as a journalist at numerous well-known publications, including The San Francisco Chronicle and The Washington Post and Huffington Post. As a member of a team of Washington Post journalists covering the Virginia Tech shooting rampage, in 2009, he earned a Pulitzer Prize.

In 2011, Vargas revealed his undocumented status in an essay published in The New York Times.

“I am thrilled at Jose’s historic appointment and enthusiastically welcome the extraordinary professional and personal qualities he brings to the CSU Board of Trustees,” said Chair Wenda Fong, a second-generation Chinese American and the first Asian American to lead the CSU Board of Trustees.

“His rich lived experience and demonstrated compassion for immigrants, undocumented students and other historically underserved student populations will undoubtedly benefit the talented and dynamically diverse students the CSU is so privileged to serve.”

The historic appointment comes just days before the 12th anniversary of Define American on June 22, the nonprofit Vargas founded in 2011 with three friends with the goals to humanize media portrayals of immigrants. Twice-named one of the world’s most innovative companies by Fast Company, Define American has established itself as one of the most trusted and impactful organizations in the culture change space.

“We’re extremely proud of Jose for shattering the glass ceiling and paving the way for countless others through this historic appointment to the CSU Board of Trustees,” said Define American Executive Director Rebecca Neuwirth. “Jose is continuing to blaze the trail for immigrants of all backgrounds to pursue their ambitions fiercely and to achieve what feels impossible, as Jose has shown time and time again.”

California State Senator María Elena Durazo — who in her first year as a senator spearheaded legislation expanding eligibility for state appointments to boards and commissions to non-citizens — spoke in support of Vargas' appointment to the CSU Board.

“It’s been an incredible privilege for me to serve for, and work on behalf of, immigrants. In a representative democracy where voters elect leaders to speak and vote on their behalf, non-citizens who are not yet able to vote must rely on the political will of a few to speak for their interest and needs. Appointments to state and local boards and commissions allow for immigrants like Jose Antonio Vargas to speak for themselves,” said Senator Durazo.

“A Pulitzer Prize winner, Jose’s perspectives and expertise, through his journalism, will now help us in California draft better policy that improves education opportunities for all. I’m so proud to stand in support of his nomination.”

With polarization heating up and extremists continuing to scapegoat immigrant communities through mis- and disinformation, Define American has ambitious plans to expand its critical work of changing the narrative. The organization, which celebrates its 12th anniversary today, has reached more than 30 million people with the vibrant stories of immigrants who have long enriched the United States.

In addition to his historic appointment on the CSU Board of Trustees, Jose also became the first known undocumented lead producer on Broadway earlier this week after the groundbreaking musical Here Lies Love started previews. He will celebrate 30 years in the United States this August.

Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker and Tony-nominated producer. A leading voice for the human rights of immigrants, he founded Define American, a nonprofit cult​ure-change organization with the goal of humanizing conversations about immigrants.

In 2020, Fortune named Vargas one of its “40 under 40" most influential people in government and politics. His best-selling memoir, “Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen," was published in 2018. His second book, “White Is Not a Country," will be published in 2023.

In 2011, The New York Times Magazine published a groundbreaking essay written by Vargas that chronicled his life in America as an undocumented immigrant. 

"I'm done running. I'm exhausted," Vargas wrote in his essay. "I don't want that life anymore."

A year later, as one of the nation's best known undocumented Americans, he appeared on the cover of Time worldwide with fellow undocumented immigrants as part of a follow-up cover story he wrote.

Vargas produced and directed “Documented," an autobiographical documentary feature film that aired on CNN, which received a 2015 NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Documentary. That same year, MTV aired “White People," an Emmy-nominated television special he produced and directed on what it means to be young and white in a demographically changing America.

In 2019, he co-produced Heidi Schreck's acclaimed Broadway play, “What the Constitution Means to Me," which was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play.

Passionate about the role of arts in society and promoting equity in education, Vargas serves on the advisory board of TheDream.US, a scholarship fund for undocumented immigrant students.

A product of the San Francisco Bay Area, he is a graduate of San Francisco State University ('04), where he was named Alumnus of the Year in 2012.

In 2019, an elementary school was named after Vargas  in Mountain View, CA, where he spent his teenage years. It was the first US school named after an undocumented immigrant.

The older he gets the more Vargas says he values the education he received in California public schools. “Joining the CSU board is my way of giving back. And we must give back in whatever way we can,” he says.

“The CSU does vital work of educating and preparing a truly diverse student body, which includes immigrants and undocumented students of all backgrounds, to contribute critical skills to our workforce and country," says Vargas. "My hope is to represent the diversity of the entire student body and to showcase that a student’s immigration status is only one part of their humanity.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter or at his blog Views From the Edge.

'Here Lies Love' brings Imelda Marcos to Broadway but not without controversy

In the beginning of 'Here Lies Love,' Imelda  (Jaygee Macupugay),  dancing in the
disco sequence, captures the adoration of the audience.

One of the most innovative and exciting musicals featuring the conjugal dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos is making its long awaited Broadway debut after it was first produced off-Broadway a decade ago. 

Here Lies Love, a musical featuring a score by Oscar and Grammy winner David Byrne with music by Byrne and Grammy winner Fatboy Slim, will come to Broadway this summer and with it, a simmering debate about appropriation and a concern that it would trivialize a dark era of the Philippines.

The musical centers on the rise and fall of Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of the Philippines, who was known for her lavish lifestyle amid civil unrest in the country.

To tell the story, the iconic Broadway Theatre will be reconfigured from a traditional proscenium stage into a “dance club environment,” which will allow audience members to become part of the production, interacting with the actors: disco dancers at times, fawning fans and protestors at other points of the story.

The show has had rave reviews everywhere it was presented starting with its world premiere Off-Broadway at the Public Theater in 2013, followed by a return engagement there from 2014 to 2015, a run at London’s Royal National Theatre in 2014 and a run at Seattle Repertory Theatre in 2017.

Preview performances will begin June 17, with the show’s official opening night set for July 20.

Clint Ramos, a Filipino American Tony winner will serve as designer and a creative director. He'll be joined by immigration activist and Pulitzer Prize-winner Jose Antonio Vargas as the first-ever Filipino lead producers on Broadway.

Although a cast hasn't been announced yet, all the principle roles are Filipino and will be cast accordingly, assure the producers.

“Filipinos are among the largest immigrant groups in America –– and also among the most invisible culturally, despite the two nations’ shared colonial histories," said Vargas, himself an outspoken undocumented immigrant who founded Define American, an agency promoting immigration reform 

"While the Asian diaspora can no longer be denied in American popular culture, Filipinas and Filipinos remain woefully outside the spotlight. I’m thrilled to help break barriers on what has historically been an exclusive stage: Broadway.”

Some of the actors who took part in the early productions of Here Lies Love, have moved on in their careers on Broadway and in television, including Tony winner Ruthie Ann Miles (The King and I), Jaygee Macapugay (School of Rock), Jose Llana (King and I) and Conrad  Ricamora (How to Get Away With Murder).

Much of the team that has been involved with the show in prior productions will return, including Tony-winning director Alex Timbers and choreographer Annie-B Parson.

The announcement notes that the show has four Filipino co-producers — Miranda Gohh, Celia Kaleialoha Kenney, Rob Laqui and Giselle “G” Töngi — while Filipino creative team members include music director J. Oconer Navarro, costume designer Clint Ramos, casting director Gail Quintos, assistant director Billy Bustamante, assistant stage manager Sheryl Polancos and aforementioned producer Töngi also serving as cultural and community liaison.

Since this article was first published in January 2023, more producers have joined the production, including: Jo Koy, Lea Salonga, Jose Antonio Vargas, Apl de Ap and H.E.R, also known as Gabrielle Sarmiento Wilson. 

One of the reasons it took so long for the musical to move from off-Broadway to Broadway is the production logistics. 

The announcement for this production says that “will transform the venue’s traditional proscenium floor space into a dance club environment, where audiences will stand and move with the actors. A wide variety of standing and seating options will be available throughout the theater’s reconstructed space, with more details to be announced soon.”

It was the difficulty in finding and funding a venue with those production requirements  is why the musical didn't find its way to California, where a majority of Filipino Americans live and was the center for the anti-Marcos movement in the US and would have almost guaranteed a sold-out audience.

In 201i6, American Conservatory Theater artistic director Carey Perloff said they've been working for two years to bring the piece to San Francisco but "Ultimately the logistics and cost proved insurmountable," he said in a press release.

The actors interact with the audience, who become part of the performance and by the end come
to realization  how easy to fall prey to manipulation.

Since the announcement of the Broadway premiere, some Filipinos have voiced concern than the production would glamorize Imelda, also known as the Iron Butterfly." Critics worry that the regime of the brutal Marcos dictatorship, one that   stole billlions of dollars from the Filipino people, imprisoned, tortured and killed over 30,000 who would question the legitimacy of the dictatorship.

One thing the musical is not: It is not a celebration of the Marcos dictatorship. As the audience becomes part of the performance. Like the people of the Philippines, they are seduced by the glamor of Imelda and her husband, only to become the victims of oppression and greed. The audience  transforms from celebrating disco-dancers to Marcos worshippers to angry People Power protestors. 

Since Here Lies Love was first presented in 2013, the Marcos son, Bong Bong has become the Philippines President. The reviewer of the Seattle production makes the musical relevant to our present times in the Philippines and the US: "It also reminds us, right up to the meaningful folk ballad near the end, how dangerous political celebrity, fake populism and ostentatious greed can be for a nation, and how captivating."

It is true that Filipinos need to tell their own stories, but  without David Byrne and Fatboy Slim attracting the financial support, it is doubtful that the production would ever be staged. I seriously doubt that someone with the reputation of Vargas would allow the show to trivialize a dark chapter of Philippine history. 

What Here Lies Love does opens the door for producers and audiences to seek out more information about a period in Philippine history that has been sanitized or recast as a time of benevolence and peace.The rewriting of Philippine history was so effective that Marcos' son, Bongbong, was elected President last year.  

For non-Filipinos, the show raises awareness of the US foreign policty that that propped up authoritarian governments, not only in the Philippines but around the world. The might even make them see the consequences of an unquestioning cult-like worship of so-called populist leaders, a worldwide trend best exemplified by Donald Trump's anti-democracy administration.

Art in its various mediums can be contemplative, cause one to question the status quo, spark the imagination, release the restraints of society, transcend boundaries or record historical events. It can also do all of that and more, no matter who creates it.

Nothing is stopping a Filipino composer from creating a more "authentic" musical about the Marcoses. I hope it gets rave reviews.

Yes, a Filipino song writer could have composed the songs or written the production, but the fact is, Here Lies Love is largely a creation of Byrne and Slim. As an artistic expression, it should be judged, experienced and enjoyed -- or not enjoyed -- on its own terms.

“Exciting lessons are often learned through uniquely surprising works of art," said Filipino American producer Ramos, who first became involved in working on the project in 2006. "And nothing is more surprising than the way Here Lies Love vibrantly and creatively sheds light on a crucial part of Philippine history.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the  blog Views From the Edge.

Report: TV shows can affect audience attitudes towards immigrants

Americans' perspectives of immigrants can be highly influenced by the television shows that they watch, according to a new study.

Change the Narrative, Change the World: How Immigrant Representation on Television Moves Audiences to Action is a new report examining the portrayal of immigrant characters and storylines across scripted television, and how they can inspire people to real-life action.

"This new data shows how the power of storytelling can engage audiences, shift mindsets, and move people into action," said Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Jose Antonio Vargas, the founder of Define American. 

This new study, by Define American, a nonprofit media advocacy organization that fights anti-immigrant hate and conducted in partnership with the Norman Lear Center Media Impact Project at USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, explores how these depictions can foster more inclusive attitudes and beliefs and drive viewers to create and inspire change.

The new research, released Sept. 23, analyzed 129 immigrant characters across 97 episodes of 59 scripted, narrative TV shows on broadcast, cable, and streaming platforms, airing between August 2018 and July 2019. It also surveyed viewers of three TV shows that featured prominent immigration storylines in their 2018-2019 seasons—Madam Secretary (CBS), Orange Is the New Black (Netflix), and Superstore (NBC)—to measure their impact.

The study found that TV shows with nuanced immigrant characters and immigration storylines can shift attitudes and inspire people to real-life action. For each of the three shows, viewers who saw the immigration storyline had more inclusive attitudes toward immigrants than those who did not, including greater comfort meeting undocumented people and opposition to criminalizing undocumented immigrants. Those who saw the immigration storylines were also more likely to take certain related actions, such as speaking to a friend about immigration issues or attending an immigration-related community event.

The "Change the Narrative, Change the World" research suggests there's still significant work needed to achieve more accurate representation across the entertainment industry:

• Immigrants continue to be criminalized, with 22% of all immigrant characters associated with some sort of crime and 10% incarcerated. While this represents a drop from 2018, (in which 34% of immigrant characters were associated with crime), it still reinforces negative stereotypes. In reality, immigrants commit less crime and are less likely to be incarcerated than native-born Americans, according to studies from the CATO Institute and The Marshall Project.
• Undocumented immigrants are heavily overrepresented on TV. Of the characters with an identified immigration status, 63% were undocumented immigrants or asylum seekers. In reality, only 24% of immigrants in the U.S. are unauthorized.
• For the second straight year, specific at-risk immigrant communities were largely invisible, including those with disabilities, transgender immigrants, and undocumented Black immigrants.
• Asian/Pacific Islander (API) representation on TV declined from 2018, from 16% to 12%, when in reality they comprise more than a quarter of immigrants in the U.S.
• The most commonly represented immigration issues included deportation (29% of episodes), ICE (25%), and mentions of the terms "illegal" (22%) and "undocumented" (17%).

"Television and movies can expand our minds and expose us to people and experiences we may not have access to in real life," said Erica Rosenthal, Norman Lear Center Director of Research. "This is why it is so important that content creators include diverse and nuanced representations of immigrants, even in content that doesn't directly address immigration. The attachments that audiences form with series regular immigrant characters on TV, like Superstore's Mateo, can actually compensate for the absence of real-life contact with immigrants."

The report also includes specific recommendations for show creators on how to better represent immigrants and integrate immigration-related storylines into their content, including hiring more immigrant show writers, consulting with immigrant communities, and seeking out compelling stories about underrepresented communities such as LGBTQ+ immigrants, older immigrants, immigrants with disabilities, and undocumented Black immigrants.

"We're calling on creators in the entertainment industry to continue to better develop authentic immigrant characters and storylines, which not only broaden representation, but empower viewers to take action on immigration-related issues," said Vargas.

Filipino American journalists sign letter of support for Maria Ressa

Filipino American journalist Maria Ressa was named one of Time Magazine''s Persons of the Year in 2018.

ASAM NEWS & VIEWS FROM THE EDGE

A group of Filipino American journalists released a letter in opposition to the charges against Maria Ressa and Reynaldo Santos on Tuesday, according to Rappler. The letter is written to journalists in the Philippines with solidarity.

It was signed by 76 Filipino American journalists. Among the co-signers is Jose Antonio Vargas, Filipino American Pulitzer Prize winner.

Journalist and Rappler CEO Ressa and former Rappler researcher-writer Santos were convicted of cyber libel on June 15, according to PBS News Hour. Rappler is an independent news website that prides itself on investigating the Philippines' President Rodrigo Duterte without fear. Many press freedom advocates feel the conviction of Ressa and Santos to crackdown on journalists that have been critical of him.

The letter explains why the charges against Ressa and should be dropped and "demand a reversal of the court's decision."

Referring to the U.S. Constitution and the 1987 constitution of the Philippines, they defend the civil right to freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

The letter, sent out to news media on Tuesday, June 23, conveyed "support of your work, courage, and dedication in your search for truth." In the letter, the journalists said they felt the conviction of Ressa and Santos "poses threats to freedom of the press and democracy. We believe that the charges should be dropped and demand a reversal of the court’s decision."

The letter goes on to say:

"We in the States have always taken pride in The First Amendment in the US Constitution that guarantees the freedom of the press. It has protected and enabled us to collect information and report the truth. In the Philippines, freedom of speech and freedom of the press are written into the 1987 constitution.

"Sadly, under the current administration, attacks on American journalists have put the U.S. on the list of the most dangerous places for journalists to work. Worldwide, according to Reporters Without Borders, at least 63 professional journalists were killed doing their jobs in 2018 – a 15% increase over the previous year. For years, the Philippines has ranked as one of the most dangerous places for journalists to work and, according to a 2018 report by the International Federation of Journalists, is the worst in terms of impunity."

The Philippines currently ranks 136th out of 180 countries listed in the World Press Freedom Index, according to the level of freedom given to journalists.

"We believe that the work of the Philippine press is vitally important in preserving the right of citizens to know the truth, and is a bulwark against forces that threaten the common good."

"The role of the media, by holding the powerful accountable, threatens the motives of those who want to remain in power through any means," the letter continued.

At the end of the letter, Ressa is quoted:. "'It would be great if we didn't have to fight our own government'" and then write, "We Filipino American journalists stand with you."

School is named after undocumented American Jose Antonio Vargas

SCREEN CAPTURE / CBS

Undocumented Amercan Jose Antonio Vargas speaks at the school's dedication.

Monday morning, students are expected to be walking the halls of the only school  in the United States named after an undocumented immigrant.

On Thursday (Aug. 15), the Jose Antonio Vargas Elementary School in Mountain View, CA. was officially named after the immigration activist from the Philippines.

“This school, our school, represents the power of community. How to treat people with respect. How to live your life with love. How to live a life of continuous education that we can never stop learning, and learning about each other,” said the school's namesake, who still lives in the Bay Area.

"I don't really have words for how meaningful this honor is, I've been speechless for a few days," Vargas, 37, told CNN. "I hope that this is a school where students and their families feel welcome in America, no matter where they come from."

Vargas lived about a mile from the new school attending Crittenden Middle School and Mountain View High School. He didn't learn of his immigration status until 1997 when he tried to get a California driver's license and couldn't because his documents were fraudulent. At first, he kept his immigration status a secret.

He secured a private scholarship to attend San Francisco State University. Vargas went on to become a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle and the Washington Post. It was at the Post where he won a Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for team coverage of the Virginia Tech shooting.

In 2011, he revealed in a New York times oped that he was an undocumented immigrant. Vargas’ family sent him from the Philippines to the United States as a child, to be raised by his grandparents. The 38-year-old has since become an outspoken activist for immigration reform.

“I wouldn’t be the human being that I am without my community. I define American as community. The community of people who see you and make you feel whole,” said Vargas.

Last September, he published a memoir, "Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen."

When asked by CBS what message the naming of the school sends to DonaldTrump, Vargas puased before answering:

“We live in such a divided time right now but every community has to decide who’s welcome. There are an estimated 350,000 undocumented immigrants in the Bay Area alone. I hope they feel welcome in this area. I know I do.”

SCREEN CAPTURE / CBS

Jose Antonio Vargas meets one of the students who will be attending the scchool named after him.

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Representation Matters: Asian Americans underrepresented on U.S. television

FRESH OFF THE BOAT / ABC

Even with the groundbreaking cast of 'Fresh Off the Boat' Asian Americans are still unrepresented on U.S. television.

ASAM NEWS

ASIAN IMMIGRANTS are underrepresented on television according to a new study released Wednesday, (Oct. 17).
The study, titled Immigration Nation: Exploring Immigration Portrayals on Television, is from Define American, a media and culture organization, in collaboration with the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center’s Media Impact Project.

“For many Americans, what they know of immigration and immigrants is limited to what they see on television,” said Elizabeth Grizzle Voorhees, Define American’s Managing Director of Creative Initiatives. “The way immigrants are portrayed in this space is more important than ever as we face the rise of anti-immigrant sentiments across the country.”

The study analyzed 143 episodes from 47 television shows that aired in 2017 and 2018 and found that 16 percent of immigrants on TV are Asian/Pacific Islander, despite the group making up 26 percent of the immigrant population in reality.

The study also found that 40 percent of immigrants on TV are Latino, who comprise 45 percent of the actual immigrant population.

Asians are projected to surpass Hispanics in number and become the largest immigrant group in the U.S. by 2055, with the top country of origin for new immigrants to the U.S. in 2016 being India, according to the Pew Research Center.

The study was conducted by trained content coders, who focused on demographic, socioeconomic, and social representations of immigrant characters depicted in each episode. They also paid attention to the context and use of culturally- or politically-charged terms relating to immigration.

Key findings include: underrepresentation of Asian immigrants, Black undocumented immigrants, and female immigrants in every racial group; overrepresentation of incarcerated immigrants and criminal immigrants; and immigrant characters being less educated on TV than they are in reality.

The study also reads, “The majority of immigrants on TV were either recurring or one-episode characters and almost half of characters had less than 10 speaking lines.”

In addition, the words “deportation’ and “ICE” appeared in about a fifth of the 143 episodes, with Latino characters being the subject of 37 percent of the deportation mentions.

“We know that the representation of people from marginalized communities on TV and film directly affects how those communities are treated in everyday life,” said Define American CEO Jose Antonio Vargas, who is a Filipino American undocumented immigrant.  

“We hope this data can encourage creators in the entertainment industry to craft better developed and diverse immigrant characters and continue to inspire humanity in our country.”

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Sunday Read: Jose Antonio Vargas - Wary undocumented citizen on a book tour

JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS

JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS is on a cross-county book tour promoting his memoir, looking over his shoulder for ICE agents.

The U.S.'s best known undocumented American has written a memoir about his journey to America and what has happened to him since he revealed his immigration status after winning a Pulitzer Prize.

Vargas has been on the move since Donald Trump took office after his landlord in L.A. advised him to leave out of fear government actions against Vargas.

“The building manager was like, 'Hey, this might not be a good idea for you to stay here because we don’t know if we’ll be able to protect you if ICE showed up,’” Vargas told NBC. “The moment he said that, it captured my predicament in a way that I have a home, but it’s not really my home.”

He went off the grid. Not only for his own safety, but also to collect his thoughts and write his memoir.

At one point, after Trump's 2016 election, he broke out of hiding. After careful consideration and discarding the suggestion of friends to move to Canada, Vargas popped up publicly as the guest of Rep. Nancy Pelosi for Donald Trump's first State of the Union in 2017.

Now he is on the move again. This time the Filipino American journalist and activist is on a tour promoting his book, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, which has received great reviews considering the timeliness of the subject.

“l cried reading this book, realizing more fully what my parents endured,”  endorsed Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club.

Vargas came to the U.S. as a 12-year old boy living in the San Francisco Bay Area with relatives. He was sent here by his mother, something that he explores in his book about feelings of abandonment and the power of a mother's love.

Interviewed by NBC, he said writing a memoir is akin to "performing an emotional root canal on one’s self without novocaine." Vargas said the book essentially was a work of personal exploration and self-realization.

“Working on this book gave me the kind of clarity that I needed to face and see as a 37-year-old man who has been displaced and because of that displacement has displaced himself. Once I got closer to the end, I realized I wasn’t only hiding from the government, I was hiding from myself,” he said. “I also realized in the process that home isn’t something I shouldn’t have to earn. It’s actually a basic right to have a home — to feel like you belong in a place.

Vargas won his Pulitzer in 2008 as part of the Washington Post team that covered the shootings at Virginia Tech.

He is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and a leading voice for the human rights of immigrants. He is the founder and CEO of Define American, the nation’s leading non-profit media and culture organization that fights injustice and anti-immigrant hate through the power of storytelling.

In 2011, the New York Times Magazine published a groundbreaking essay he wrote in which he revealed and chronicled his life in America as an undocumented immigrant. A year later, he appeared on the cover of TIME magazine worldwide with fellow undocumented immigrants as part of a follow-up cover story he wrote. 

He then produced and directed Documented, a documentary feature film on his undocumented experience. It aired on CNN, streamed on Netflix, and received a 2015 NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Documentary. Also in 2015, MTV aired White People, an Emmy-nominated television special he produced and directed on what it means to be young and white in a demographically-changing America.

Vargas is a proud graduate of San Francisco State University (’04), where he was named Alumnus of the Year in 2012, and Mountain View High School (’00).

An elementary school named after Vargas will open in his hometown of Mountain View, California in 2019.

Thus far, there have been no problems on his nationwide book tour. He plans to stick to his schedule  (See attached.) fully aware that he's letting ICE know his whereabouts.

Vargas eventually came to the conclusion to abandon the move to Canada: 

From his memoir, he writes: "I refused to let a presidency scare me away from my own country. I refused to live a life of fear defined by a government that doesn’t even know why it fears what it fears. Because I am not a citizen by law or by birth, I’ve had to create and hold on to a different kind of citizenship, something more akin to what I call citizenship of participation. Citizenship is showing up. Citizenship is using your voice while making sure you hear other people around you. Citizenship is how you live your life. Citizenship is resilience."
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U.S. school named after undocumented immigrants Jose Antonio Vargas

SCREEN CAPTURE / YOUTUBE

JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS

AN AMERICAN SCHOOL will be named after Jose Antonio Vargas, one of the United States' best known undocumented immigrants.

The Mountain View Whisman School District voted Thursday (June 14) to name a new elementary school after Jose Antonio Vargas. The school board's historic decision is also the first time an American public school is named after a living Filipino American.

“As a proud product of the Bay Area’s public school system, I am overwhelmed by this totally unexpected and deeply meaningful honor," said Vargas. 

The new school will open in the summer of 2019.

Born in the Philippines, Vargas came to the United States at age 12 and attended Crittenden Middle School and Mountain View High School in Mountain View, Calif. He has gone on to become a Pulitzer Prize award-winning journalist, documentary filmmaker, and renowned human rights advocate.

“Education is the most sacred gift we give to our country’s future. I am who I am because of teachers and school administrators who nurtured and encouraged me. Their care went beyond papers and beyond grades," Vargas said.

"This school will be a living testament to the powerful influence that an educator can have in a child’s life. It is my hope this school will be a welcoming institution of learning for all students and their families.”

After building a successful career in journalism, Vargas publicly declared his undocumented status in June 2011 and, with a small group of friends, created Define American. Education has been a core part of the nonprofit organization’s DNA since, from educating the news media and Hollywood culture-makers about immigration to leading education initiatives that broaden and deepen people’s understanding of our country’s 43 million immigrants.

In 2014, after the release of “Documented,” Vargas’ autobiographical documentary that aired on CNN, Define American released a curriculum, covered by Education Week, which provided guidance for teachers on how to discuss the complicated issues around immigration that emerged from the film.

Later, in July 2015, MTV aired an hour-long documentary called “White People” directed and hosted by Vargas, in which he travels around the country engagingyoung people around the topics of race, privilege and identity.

Additionally, Define American’s campaigns (#WordsMatter, #FactsMatter), original video content, and Vargas’s writings have been used as resources by educators in countless classrooms across the country from 5th grade to higher education.

“What’s in a name? For the generations to follow: extraordinary possibilities,” said Patricia Hyland, who chairs Define American’s board of trustees. Hyland, an educator for 36 years, is the director of equity and employee relations at Foothill De Anza Community College District, and was Vargas’s former principal at Mountain View High School. 

“We are living through an ugly and hateful time in our country when immigrant families are under constant attack, even at schools. The district’s decision is an affirmation of American values and our belief in opening our doors of opportunities to all kinds of dreamers.”

In addition to Hyland, the current members of Define American’s board of trustees, Elise Haas and Maria Gabriela Pacheco, are as passionate about the role of education in the lives of immigrants and all Americans. 

Haas helped establish the Undocumented Student Program at University of California-Berkeley, one of the first of its kind in the country. Pacheco is the program director at TheDream.us, the largest scholarship fund for undocumented students.

“As families pull up to the Jose Antonio Vargas Elementary School every morning, they will do so in the knowledge that they are part of a community that models respect, inclusivity and love of learning. I hope it inspires them to be curious about other people and cultures, to see themselves in one another," Haas said. 

"At a time when kids are being unjustly separated from their parents and sent to detention camps, I’m proud of the Mountain View Whisman School District for being a welcoming light of hope.” he said.

Pacheco said: “All children, no matter where they are born, deserve to feel loved, and that they can be who they aspire to be no matter the obstacles or barriers put in front of them. Going to a school named after Jose Antonio Vargas will be a daily reminder to them and all children of the world that their lives matter more than a piece of paper. 

"The naming of this school comes at a time when American values are being put to the test––who do we want to be, what kind of country do we want our children to grow up in, and how do we define American?”

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Meet some Asian American DACA Dreamers

DONALD TRUMP is expected to announce the end of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA, today (Sept. 5) affecting the lives of 800,000 young men and women.

Although, the general impression is that the perfectly legal Executive Order signed in 2012 by President Barack Obama impacts Latino Americans, almost 17,000 undocumented Asian/Americans will be affected.

DACA allows people brought to the U.S. illegally as children the temporary right to live, study and work legally in America. It is not an amnesty program as believed by some of the program's critics.

Those applying are vetted for any criminal history or threat to national security and must be a student or have completed school or military service. If they pass vetting, action to deport them is deferred for two years, with a chance to renew, and they become eligible for basics like a driving license, college enrollment or a work permit.

Those who qualify for DACA, are called Dreamers. You probably know some. They are our neighbors, friends, classmates and co-workers. TThey are ordinary people, hey serve in our military, law enforcement, teach and care for other people. One of them died in Houston last week trying to rescue a victim of Hurricane Harvey.

Here are some of their stories. 

Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist, is perhaps the best known. A Filipino/American, he founded the organizations Define American, which created these videos. For more stories of undocumented immigrants, click here.

Contrary to the beliefs of Trump and his supporters, a new survey finds that "DACA has beenunreservedly good for the U.S. ecoomy and U.S. sciety more generally."

A new survey of more than 3,000 DACA recipients from 46 states and DC, issued by Dr. Tom K. Wong of the University of California, San Diego; United We Dream (UWD); the National Immigration Law Center (NILC); and the Center for American Progress, concludes: 

“Our findings could not paint a clearer picture: DACA has been unreservedly good for the U.S. economy and for U.S. society more generally.” Among the key findings from the survey of DACA recipients and the larger report:

• 97% of DACA recipients are currently employed or enrolled in school.
• Average hourly wages rose by 69% after DACA— that means more tax revenue for cities, states, and the U.S.
• 16% of DACA recipients bought houses; 5% started businesses
• At least 72% of the top 25 Fortune 500 companies employ DACA beneficiaries
• DACA beneficiaries will contribute $460.3 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product over the next decade—economic growth that would be lost were DACA to be eliminated.

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Jose Antonio Vargas: An undocumented American

Jose Antonio Vargas

JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS, a Filipino immigrant, may be the poster child for the thousands of undocumented people awaiting action from President Obama that may legalize their status.

And, oh yeah, he won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize as a member of team of Washington Post journalists covering the Virginia Tech shootings. In 2011, in a moving essay published in the New York Times, he revealed his status as an "undocumented American." Note the terminology. Those are his words Vargas prefers to use.

Since that essay he has become an activist in support of the undocumented Americans. He has formed an organization Define American, challenging the legal concept of American. Are Americans defined by a set of papers, birth, or is an American someone who thinks, believes and lives as Americans, like
Vargas has done since he was 12 years old when he was sent to live with his grandparents in the San Francisco Bay Area. It wasn't until he was 16 that he learned that he was in this country without papers. He attended local elementary and high schools and graduated from San Francisco State.

Since he is over the age of 30, he doesn't qualify for the Dream Act that legalized the status of the children who brought here at an early age by their undocumented parents. Their being in this country illegally, the act says, was not their fault or their intention. Vargas is speaking up for people like himself who were raised to be Americans; who believe they are Americans and who, by their values and mores, are American,

Vargas got himself in a pickle last week when -- as a freelancer -- went into the border town of McAllen, Texas to lend support and record the plight of the thousands of Central American young people who tried to cross the border fleeing the gangs and violence that have taken over their countries.

In a prepared statement, he said: "As an unaccompanied child migrant myself, I came to McAllen, Texas, to shed a light on children who, in parts of America and many in the news media are actively turning their backs on."

Never having been in that part of the country, he was surprised at the level of militarization of the Texas border. There are checkpoints on all the roads leaving Allen as if it was in the Gaza strip. While they were glad to see him, one woman was prompted to ask him, "How will you get out?"

As expected, when he tried to board a flight out of town, he was asked for his ID. All he had was a Philippines passport, which apparently wasn't good enough. He was detained. Fortunately, a few hours later he was released with orders to appear before an immigration judge at a future date.

Homeland Security, taking note of his well-known status, was quick to issue a statement that he was not arrested or charged with anything. In essence, they said they had other priorities that demanded their attention and the status of one individual who was deemed non-violent and who did not have a criminal record, can be dealt with later.

Vargas' documentary "Documented" aired on CNN earlier this summer and will probably be aired in other time slots. Watch for it.

If his purpose was to bring attention to the plight of the Central American children, Vargas has certainly done that. Their hope is that they will be granted refugee status so they can remain in the U.S.A.

Ironically, the fact that thousands of these children were apprehended at the border is a strong sign that the efforts put forth to prevent illegal immigration is working.

The president has asked Congress for another $3.5 billion to make sure the children are afforded their due process (that, too, is the American way) and if necessary, send them back where they must choose to be gang members or get killed.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.