I like Q&A's better than articles sometimes because I feel like I'd rather hear somebody actually talk or wrestle with. Jose Antonio Vargas More Quotes by Jose Antonio Vargas More Quotes From Jose Antonio Vargas The immigration bill is going to pass. We're going to have a bill. It's going to get through the Senate. I think the fundamentals are there and the foundation is strong and the bill is going to happen. The House is going to be trickier, but I think it's going to happen there too. Jose Antonio Vargas strong house thinking We're talking about America - a country that's been built on the back of cheap labor. That's addicted to cheap labor. Talk to the Chinese and Irish who built the railroads. Talk to the black people who built the South. So what is the US-Mexico conversation really about? Jose Antonio Vargas black country people Like other undocumented people in this country, I want a green card, and I want a driver's license, and I want a passport. What, to me, is the immigration bill? It's a green card, a driver's license, and a passport. That's what it's about to me, tangibly. That I could see my mom. That I could drive. Is there anything more American than driving? That I could get a green card and be able to - right now, I'm just like freelancing and working as an independent contractor. It's hilarious. I'm unhirable. Jose Antonio Vargas independent mom country The hardest stories we tell are always about ourselves. How do you explain that you have been missing your mother for 20 years? I don't know how to explain that to you. I wasn't even sure I wanted to film that, because I don't know how I felt about it. I didn't want to put her through it, and I frankly wasn't ready. Because since I was 16, I just had created my own life for myself, you know? I left when I was 12. I'm 32. And I have gotten to know my mother more through editing her and looking and watching and editing her footage, you know. Jose Antonio Vargas film mother missing One day when I was 16, I rode my bike to the nearby DMV office to get my driver's permit. Some of my friends already had their licenses, so I figured it was time. But when I handed the clerk my green card as proof of U.S. residency, she flipped it around, examining it. 'This is fake,' she whispered. 'Don't come back here again.' Jose Antonio Vargas day bike green time At the end of the day, stories connect us, not politics. And there's so many stories out there waiting to be told. It's just a matter of who's out there listening. Jose Antonio Vargas end-of-the-day day politics waiting I think everybody could agree that our immigration system is broken. We have not told the truth about it. Jose Antonio Vargas think immigration broken truth You can call me whatever you want to call me, but I am an American. No one can take that away from me. No, no one can. Jose Antonio Vargas i-am me you want A broken immigration system means broken families and broken lives. Jose Antonio Vargas means system immigration broken I'm not a minority: I'm a majority of one. We all are. To call someone a minority, you give them baggage, of not being full, or not being seen as full. All of us need to be seen as full human beings. Jose Antonio Vargas need someone being you I wasn't supposed to be walking with Mark Zuckerberg. I wasn't supposed to be interviewing Romney's sons. Why was I doing it? Because I wanted to survive. I wanted to live. I wanted to earn what it means to be an American. Jose Antonio Vargas survive live doing walking You have to do what you have to do. I wanted to work. I wanted to prove that I was worthy of being here... and I was gonna do whatever it took to prove that. Jose Antonio Vargas whatever you prove work For decades, I have cringed whenever someone called me 'illegal,' as if I'm an insect on someone's back. I found out I didn't have the right papers - that I was here illegally - when I tried to get a driver's permit at age 16. But I am not 'illegal.' No person is. Jose Antonio Vargas i-am someone me age I traffic in empathy. I try to be vulnerable with people so they can be vulnerable back. I've always been searching for empathy in other people. It's when I feel most not alone. Jose Antonio Vargas alone feel empathy people Everyone has an opinion when it comes to immigration - strong, intense opinions. Jose Antonio Vargas everyone immigration opinion strong When I was younger, I didn't understand how a mother could put her son on a plane and just say, you know, 'Here you go, I'll see you later.' And she never followed, she never came. Jose Antonio Vargas understand you mother son The fact of the matter is, this country is not going to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants. What are we supposed to do with them? What are we supposed to do with these kids? Jose Antonio Vargas going immigrants matter country Of all the questions I get asked as an undocumented immigrant in the United States, there are two - asked in various permutations via email, social media or in person - that chill me to the bone: 'Why don't you just make yourself legal?' And: 'Why don't you get in the back of the line?' Jose Antonio Vargas yourself me you social-media I think everyone deserves dignity. Jose Antonio Vargas i-think everyone think dignity We cannot change the politics issue until we change the culture around it; until we talk about what parents do for their kids as an act of love. That's a cultural conversation. Jose Antonio Vargas politics change love culture
