DOCUMENTED: A FILM BY AN UNDOCUMENTED AMERICAN — Jose Antonio Vargas Interview

Jose Antonio Vargas, San Francisco, CA 5/8/14

For Jose Antonio Vargas, watching footage from DOCUMENTED: A FILM BY AN UNDOCUMENTED AMERICAN with the sound off was a revelation. This undocumented, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist had always prided himself on his toughness, the toughness that allowed him to navigate a high-profile career despite his immigration status, or lack thereof.  What he saw was a man who was broken by the struggle. When we talked on May 8, 2014, it was one of the first things he discussed about his remarkable life and film.

DOCUMENTED, his second film, was designed to bring the debate about immigration reform down to a very personal level. And there is no doubt that seeing Vargas Skyping with his mother back in the Philippines is powerful stuff. He had not seen her since he was 12, when he was bundled from Manila to California to be raised by his grandparents and given a shot at a better life. They had, of course, written letters and spoken over the phone, but the expression on Vargas’ face when he sees her in real time on the computer screen speaks more that volumes of abstract debate.

It, like his film, makes an unimpeachable case for those who came to this country by no choice of their own, as children, grew up here as Americans and now want to stay as part of the Obama administration’s DREAM Act that would provide a path to citizenship for immigrants in Vargas’ position. Far from a screed or a diatribe, though, it unfolds in a straightforward way, which makes the heartbreaks all the more poignant. As are the confrontations with opponents who reveal their ignorance as they argue against Vargas’ right to stay in his adopted homeland.

It’s a reflection of Vargas himself as I learned during our conversation. Straightforward, erudite, and passionate about finding justice for a forgotten group who have as much to offer society as the native-born. He also offered insight into why he, despite misgivings, decided to make himself the subject of the film, and what his “aha” moment was that made him want to come out about his immigration status in 2011. That was when he published an essay in the New York Times Magazine, “outing” himself, and describing what it was like to learn at age 16 that he was here illegally, and began a life of subterfuge in order to stay here. The efforts he once put into getting around the system have now been channeled into reforming that same system, and to that end he has not only made this film, but he also co-founded Define American, a group dedicated to talking about as well as spurring immigration reform.

Click here to listen to the interview (11:40) DOCUMENTED: A FILM BY AN UNDOCUMENTED AMERICAN — Jose Antonio Varga Interview.