Jose Antonio Vargas (born February 3, 1981) is a journalist, filmmaker, and immigration rights activist. Born in the Philippines and raised in the United States from the age of twelve, he was part of The Washington Post team that won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting in 2008 for coverage of the Virginia Tech shooting online and in print. Vargas has also worked for the San Francisco Chronicle, the Philadelphia Daily News, and The Huffington Post. He wrote, produced, and directed the autobiographical 2013 film Documented, which CNN Films broadcast in June 2014.
In a June 2011 essay in The New York Times Magazine, Vargas revealed his status as an undocumented immigrant in an effort to promote dialogue about the immigration system in the U.S. and to advocate for the DREAM Act, which would provide children in similar circumstances with a path to citizenship. A year later, a day after the publication of his Time cover story about his continued uncertainty regarding his immigration status, the Obama administration announced it was halting the deportation of undocumented immigrants age 30 and under, who would be eligible for the DREAM Act. Vargas, who had just turned 31, did not qualify.
Vargas is the founder of Define American, a nonprofit organization intended to open up dialogue about the criteria people use to determine who is an American. He has said: "I am an American. I just don't have the right papers."
In September 2018, his memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, was published by Dey Street.
In July 2022, he was appointed to the California State University Board of Trustees by Governor Gavin Newsom.
After 31 years of living in the US without legal status, Vargas announced in January 2025 that he had obtained a 3-year O-1 "extraordinary ability" visa after receiving a waiver of his 10-year bar and prior false claim of US citizenship. Vargas notes that his temporary visa does not provide a pathway to citizenship, but is renewable, which he hopes to do.
Personal life and education Vargas was born in AntipoloIlustre, Jennie L. "Jose Antonio Vargas: Pulitzer Prize Winner", GMA News Online, April 10, 2008. Retrieved June 23, 2011. in the Philippines. In 1993, when Vargas was twelve, his mother sent him to live with his grandparents in the U.S. without obtaining authorization for him to stay in the country permanently; his grandparents were naturalized U.S. citizens.Vargas, Jose Antonio. "My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant", The New York Times, June 22, 2011. Retrieved June 22, 2011. In Mountain View, California, he attended Crittenden Middle School and Mountain View High School. He did not learn of his immigration status until 1997 when, at age 16, he attempted to obtain a California driver's license with identity documents provided by his family that he then discovered were fraudulent. He kept his immigration status secret, pursuing his education and fitting in as an American with the help of friends and teachers. He used a Filipino passport and false documents that included a green card and a driver's license to help him avoid deportation.
His high school English teacher introduced him to journalism, and in 1998 he began an internship at the Mountain View Voice, a local newspaper. He later became a copy boy for the San Francisco Chronicle. Unable to apply for traditional financial aid due to his status, with the help of his high school principal and school superintendent, Vargas secured a private scholarship to attend San Francisco State University, where he earned a degree in political science and Black Studies. In the summers during college he interned for the Philadelphia Daily News and The Washington Post.
Vargas came out as gay during his senior year of high school in 1999, a decision he later described as "less daunting than coming out about my legal status". He spoke out against the Defense of Marriage Act, calling it an immigration issue that disadvantages people similar to him from "marry[ing] my way into citizenship like straight people can".
Journalism
Work for The Washington Post In 2004, immediately after graduation from San Francisco State, he was hired by the Style section of The Washington Post to cover the video game boom. He became known for his anecdotal coverage of the HIV epidemic in Washington. His coverage was adapted into a 2010 documentary entitled, The Other City. In 2007, he was part of the Washington Post team covering the shootings at Virginia Tech, whose work earned a Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting.
When Vargas made a pitch for an assignment as a politics reporter for the Post, he told his editor, "You need someone to cover the presidential campaign who has a Facebook account and who looks at YouTube every day." Vargas went on to cover the 2008 presidential campaign, including a front-page article in 2007 about Wikipedia's impact on the 2008 election.
He also wrote an online column entitled "The Clickocracy" on the Post'''s website.
Pulitzer Prize Vargas authored or contributed to three Washington Post articles about the Virginia Tech shootings that were awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting.
In "Students Make Connections at a Time of Total Disconnect" on April 17, 2007, Vargas reported on the role of technology in student experiences during the Virginia Tech shootings. He described graduate student Jamal Albarghouti running toward the gunshots when he heard them, taking out his cell phone to take a shaky, one-minute video that later was aired on CNN.com. "This is what this YouTube-Facebook-instant messaging generation does," Vargas wrote. "Witness. Record. Share." The article also discussed the role of Facebook, which students used to keep in touch during the event. Albarghouti returned to his apartment to find 279 new Facebook messages, Vargas recounted, and another student, Trey Perkins, faced a similar inundation.
Vargas contributed to the article "'Pop, Pop, Pop': Students Down, Doors Barred, Leaps to Safety," which was published on April 17, 2007. Through interviews with eyewitnesses, the story recounted the events of the Virginia Tech shootings. He also contributed to the article "That Was the Desk I Chose to Die Under," which ran in The Washington Post on April 19, 2007. Vargas gained an interview with an eyewitness to the shootings by approaching him through Facebook, he explained to GMA News. "I got him on the phone, we talked for about 25 minutes, and he was the only eyewitness we had on the story, so it was a critical part of it," Vargas explained.
Work for The Huffington Post In July 2009, Vargas left the Post to join The Huffington Post, part of an exodus of young talent from the paper. Arianna Huffington introduced herself to Vargas at a Washington Press Club Foundation dinner after overhearing someone mistake him for a busboy.
Vargas joined Huffington Post as technology and innovations editor, where he then created a "Technology as Anthropology" blog and launched the Technology vertical in September 2009 and the College vertical in February 2010.
Other print In September 2010, Vargas profiled Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in an article for The New Yorker.Vargas, Jose Antonio. "The Face of Facebook" The New Yorker, September 20, 2010.
Film, television, theater Vargas's articles on the AIDS epidemic in Washington, D.C., inspired a feature-length documentary, The Other City, which he co-produced and wrote. Directed by Susan Koch and co-produced by Sheila Johnson, the documentary premiered at the 2010 Tribeca Film FestivalLazarus, Catie "Tribeca Talks: The Other City" . April 30, 2010. Retrieved June 23, 2011. and aired on Showtime."The Other City" , Showtime website. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
In February 2015, Vargas launched a venture called #EmergingUS that will use video and commentary to explore race and the "evolving American identity."
In July 2015, Vargas directed and starred in a new documentary, White People, about the concept of white privilege. The film debuted on MTV, and was nominated for Daytime Emmy and Shorty Awards.
In 2019, Vargas became a co-producer of Heidi Schreck's Tony-nominated Broadway play What the Constitution Means to Me.
Vargas joined the Broadway production of Here Lies Love as a co-producer. The "disco-pop" stage musical, dramatizing the life of Filipino politician Imelda Marcos and set to preview in June 2023, is notable for being the first Broadway production to feature an all-Filipino cast.
Immigration law advocacy
In 2011, Vargas wrote an essay for The New York Times Sunday Magazine in which he revealed that he is an undocumented immigrant. 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's essay received much media attention and was at the top of the Times "most-emailed" list the week it was published. He received the June 2011 Sidney Award for his essay, an award given by The Sidney Hillman Foundation to what they evaluate as the "outstanding piece of socially-conscious journalism" published each month.
Vargas founded Define American in 2011, a nonprofit project aimed at facilitating dialogue about immigration issues including the DREAM Act, which would provide undocumented immigrants with a path to citizenship through education or service in the military. The organization also invites individuals to share their experiences via video. In 2012, through Define American, Vargas began to monitor the use of the term "illegal immigrant" in the media, hoping to influence news organizations to use the term "undocumented" instead, which Vargas argues is a less dehumanizing term. His targets included The New York Times and the Associated Press. In April 2013, the Associated Press announced that they would no longer use the term "illegal" to describe people and would abandon the term "illegal immigrant"; The New York Times said it also was reviewing its style guides regarding the term. Vargas welcomed the AP decision, saying that he hoped other news organizations would follow their example.
In 2012, Vargas worked with filmmaker Chris Weitz on a group of four short documentaries entitled Is this Alabama? about the effects of Alabama's immigration legislation. The documentary, which advocates the repeal of HB 56, is a collaborative effort on the part of Define American, America's Voice, and the Center for American Progress.
In June 2012, Vargas 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. The day after the article appeared, President Obama announced that his administration would halt the deportation of undocumented immigrants age 30 and under, who would qualify for DREAM Act relief, and provide work permits for them, allowing them to remain in the U.S. legally; Vargas, at age 31, however, was not eligible for this program, but greeted it as a "victory for DREAMers".
In the years since revealing his status in 2011, Vargas has become the public face of undocumented immigrants. He presented emotional testimony at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in February 2013.