A Journalist Without Papers

I asked him what we would say to those who worry that every time we propose giving something to illegal immigrants -- in-state college tuition, hospital care, driver's licenses, the DREAM Act, earned legal status, etc. -- we chip away at what it means to be an American.

"We get a driver's license not because we think we're better than you or we want to be equal to you," he said. "We get a driver's license because we have to go to work, to drop off the kids at school, to go to the market. I say to those people, 'I am not taking a slice of your pie, I am actually making the whole pie bigger.' Undocumented Americans make the pie bigger for everyone."

You heard right. "Undocumented Americans." Are you ready to add that phrase to your lexicon? Some would consider it a contradiction in terms. After all, how can you be an American if you're undocumented?

"You can call me illegal," Vargas explained. "You can call me an illegal alien. You call me whatever you want. But I grew up here. This is my home. This country has given a lot to me, and I want to give back to it. I am an American. So why don't we start with that?"

It was to sort through difficult questions of identity and nationality that Vargas recently founded Define American, an organization that wants to elevate the immigration debate and come up with solutions to break the stalemate.

It may be an occupational hazard, but Vargas never stops asking questions. "People focus so much on the fact that I don't have my papers, and they never ask 'the why' and 'the how.' Why is this happening? How is this happening? As a journalist, that's what I'm most interested in."

Right again. Instead of always yelling at each other and complaining about illegal immigration, it's time for Americans to ask "the why" and "the how." Until we do, we'll never find a solution to this problem.

========

Ruben Navarrette's e-mail address is ruben(at symbol)rubennavarrette.com