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Pulitzer Prize-Winning Illegal Immigrant Reporter's License Revoked
By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 22, 2011
Modified Jul 22, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 22, 2011
Modified Jul 22, 2011
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Last month, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Jose Antonio Vargas outed himself as an illegal immigrant in a NY Times Magazine story about his years trying to escape detection with fake documents and continue his successful life. He detailed how he was able to get a driver's license in Washington state, "The license is valid until 2016. This offered me five more years of acceptable identification — but also five more years of fear, of lying to people I respect and institutions that trusted me, of running away from who I am." Except now Washington has revoked his license.
According to the Seattle Times:
Washington law requires that those who have a Social Security number provide it when they apply for a license but allows those who don't to sign a declaration to that effect. The law does, however, require applicants to live in the state of Washington...
State licensing officials launched an investigation after Vargas' article appeared in the magazine June 22.
They sent a letter to the Northgate-area address he had used when he applied, giving him 20 days to prove his state residency. The letter was returned unopened.
Vargas, who immigrated from the Philippines and whose grandparents cared for him while his mother remained overseas, does have a Social Security card, but not INS authorization to work in the U.S.
Vargas came forward because he wants to draw attention to the DREAM Act. (The DREAM Act would grant citizenship to children who come to the U.S. illegally if they go to college or serve in the military, but the bill failed when the Senate was unable to overcome a filibuster.) He wrote on the blog of his website, Define American, "Last night I learned that my driver's license from the state of Washington is being revoked. It's not unexpected, given how I laid out in detail how I've been able to live, work and survive as an undocumented immigrant in our country. Still, it's a sad feeling. In some ways, my driver's license has been my life line... I am sorry that I broke our laws in order to get a driver's license. As parents tell their children, 'a license is a privilege.' Losing that privilege is part of my facing up to what I've done. However, I believe it is a small price to pay relative to the big things we're going to do, together."
Tagged
dream act
drivers license
illegal immigrant
illegal immigration
Jose Antonio Vargas
washington state
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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