Documented film jose antonio vargas biography

I define "American" as someone who works really hard, someone who is proud to be in this country and wants to contribute to it. I'm independent. I pay taxes. I'm self-sufficient. I'm an American, I just don't have the right papers. I take full responsibility for my actions, and I'm sorry for the laws that I have broken. He detailed how he came to discover this as a teenager and kept it hidden for almost 15 years, during which time he worked, paid taxes, and worried that his status would be exposed.

Vargas founded Define American ina nonprofit project aimed at facilitating dialogue about immigration issues including the DREAM Actwhich would provide undocumented immigrants with a path to citizenship through education or service in the military. Vargas welcomed the AP decision, saying that he hoped other news organizations would follow their example.

InVargas worked with filmmaker Chris Weitz on a group of four short documentaries entitled Is this Alabama? In JuneVargas wrote a cover story for Time magazine about the uncertainty of his life "in limbo" during the year following his revelation that he was an undocumented immigrant. In the years since revealing his status inVargas has become the public face of undocumented immigrants.

Documented film jose antonio vargas biography

He presented emotional testimony at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in February Vargas wrote, directed, and produced the autobiographical film, Documented: A film by an undocumented Americanreleased in and presented by CNN Films in The film chronicles his rise as an outspoken advocate for the undocumented, while portraying the personal pain his circumstances have caused him and his family, especially the separation from his mother whom he has not seen in more than 20 years.

Vargas has worked closely with the tech lobbying group FWD. He referred to the growing collaboration between Silicon Valley leaders and immigrant activists as a "marriage of unlikely allies" that bodes well for the passage of reform. Zuckerberg recounted his experience tutoring undocumented students as his inspiration for starting FWD. The hour hackathon brought together undocumented immigrants and Silicon Valley tech veterans to create immigration reform advocacy projects.

On July 15,Vargas was arrested by immigration authorities while trying to leave the border town of McAllen, Texas. He had a camera crew from Define American with him to interview and film undocumented immigrant minor children from Central America. Vargas later wrote that he did not realize until he was there that he would have to cross through a U.

He went through airport security with his Philippine passport and a pocket-size copy of the United States Constitution. Initially, he was cleared by the Transportation Security Administrationbut a border agent took his passport, reviewed his documents, asked him some questions, placed him in handcuffs, and escorted him to the McAllen Border Patrol station for further questioning.

He was released later that day. In JuneVargas received criticism for circulating an image of a little boy crying behind a fence on Twitter, using the caption "This is what happens when a government believes people are 'illegal. It was later discovered that the image was sourced from a private Facebook account and was taken out of context, as the photo was actually from a staged protest against U.

President Trump's immigration policy in DallasTexason June 10, Vargas received many calls to remove the photo from Twitter, including from actor Misha Collins who said Vargas was guilty of "the same misinformation as Trump and you are giving fodder to the other side. All I said [about] the photo was this is what happens when a gov't considers people 'illegal.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item. This is the latest accepted revisionreviewed on 21 January Filipino-American journalist, immigration activist. This article is about the journalist, filmmaker, and immigration rights activist.

For the YouTuber with the same name, see Angry Joe. AntipoloPhilippines. Personal life and education [ edit ]. Journalism [ edit ]. Documented Jose Antonio Vargas. Newsletter Do you want to stay up to date with all Movies that Matter news, promotions and special screenings? Education Film at school Film at the cinema Teaching materials Newsletter and contact.

Events Agenda On Tour. Aanpassen Accepteren. But now it's our turn as American audiences to tune in and listen up, to spread the word and spread it wide: watch Documented here. Shopping Cart. Pablo Caraballo April 13, J. He also suffered a strong personal cost, fearfully refusing to have any contact with his mother in the Philippines and even denying her friend request on Facebook.