Living the American Dream — in Hiding

Consider yourself very fortunate that you are still here and getting paid well to write articles and books telling us how hard it is to be an illegal alien in America. Other countries would not be as forgiving nor welcoming. The big problem is there are at least 15-18 million more illegals already here expecting us to hand them over the keys to U.S. citizenship. Our overly trampled 'Welcome' mat is thread bare.

I feel for Mr. Vargas, but that goes only so far. It takes a bit of effort to gain your citizenship, what i hear is a lot of illegals making excuses. I feel for their situations, but this country needs a comprehensive system for citizenship - if you don't like it - then too bad. Leave or go through the process. It's as simple as that. I'm an immigrant and I went through the process and my mother was an American born citizenship. Yes my situation was a bit less cumbersome, but i nevertheless still had to go through the process. I have no sympathy for Mr. Vargas's situation - go back to the Philippines and go through the process. Period.

One can make a strong argument that having Mr. Vargas here as a potential citizen of the US is both desirable and adds to the success and vitality of American society. But Mr. Vargas or more accurately his mother and grandparents chose to make their own rules as to his admittance to this country and presumed citizenship. Yes Ms. Szalai there is a line. My dearest friend who had a green card and came to this country over 20 years ago worked for over ten years to get his two children here, legally. They both were recently sworn in as citizens and came here with good educations and are gainfully employed in the tech field. All countries have rules of law regulating immigration. Are some of ours a mess, probably but they are still our laws. I hope that you are successful in obtaining a green card but at the moment you are an illegal, not an undocumented citizen. Good luck with obtaining citizenship.

This guy thinks he can cheat the system like those of us who did it the right LEGAL way. Everything that goes up, eventually comes down, and he is on borrowed time.

Mr. Vargas, since you're so critical of our country why don't you find a more suitable country and apply for *legal* citizenship?

Mr. Vargas had been in the United States since the age of 12 and has mastered the art of becoming at-one with this country (achieving success as a journalist and part of a Pulitzer Prize wining team with the Washington Post) . . . And yet he has not it upon himself to apply for and follow the legal framework for becoming a legal citizen. I have no intention of reading nor purchasing his book. I will not support him in profiting from his illegal residency in this country. We are a nation of laws. If I run a red light at an intersection, I will be issued a moving violation. Why are we continuing to allow illegal residents to remain in this country, existing in the shadows while accessing social supports paid for by state/federal taxes, while there are millions of legal citizens who are engulfed by poverty and are largely abandoned and forgotten? Comparing America’s open and welcoming immigration of the early 1900’s cannot be evenly compared to the social and cultural mileau that defines America today. Exponential population growth coupled with dwindling natural and employment resources make the “American Dream” less and less attainable to the many that continue to feverishly come here seeking its riches and success.

As another commenter states, Vargas is a hypocrite, in that he expects that he shouldn't be held to the same law that everyone else is -- much like Trump in that respect. Donald Trump believes he is "special" and has important work that puts him above and beyond the law. So does Vargas have the same sense of himself as special, and the expectation that immigration law should not apply to him. Vargas writes as though the US were particularly cruel, but ironically it is only because of this nations' inability to adequately enforce immigration laws to the extent that mnost nations do, that Vargas is still in this nation and dares write this book.

The hyperbolic rhetoric of this essay: that Mr. Vargas is essentially enslaved by the fact that he is an illegal alien (the legally correct term), and so is not able to "breathe free," orients us as to the reviewer's political stance - one which colors her review. As a federal prosecutor in LA in the 1990s, I handled many criminal immigration violations (including against smugglers of illegal aliens as well as those who essentially imprisoned illegal aliens in the US),and a variety of other crimes. The fact is that nearly everyone who commits a crime (and is apprehended) has a psychological explanation from his/her personal historical narrative as to why he or she committed the crime and should be forgiven. This includes violent bank robbers and white-collar criminals. Here, Mr. Varga's family knowingly engaged in a criminal conspiracy to violate US law regarding immigration. His ruminations should be focused on why they betrayed him, rather than on his muddled relationship with the US. If we as a country countenance widespread violations of our laws as passed by our representatives with regard to immigration, that deprives us of the moral ground to demand adherence to federal laws in other spheres: such as with regard to the actions of the current occupant of the White House, or the financial sector. Everything simply devolves into politics, rather than the rule of law - which the Times and its readership so strongly want to employ to hold Trump to account . . ..

“...to those who tell Vargas he’s supposed to “get in line” for citizenship, as if there were a line instead of a confounding jumble of vague statutes and executive orders...” Actually, there is a line and the people who are on it resent illegals like Mr. Vargas who jump it. He should go back to th Philippines and apply for citizenship. On another note, there is no such thing as an “undocumented citizen.” Anyone who is in this country illegally is not a citizen.

Illegal means not legal. An illegal immigrant means an immigrant (citizen of another country) is not a legal immigrant in the US. Illegal immigrants are guilty of committing a crime and should be deported.

I was an illegal immigrant for 5 years from 1977 to 1982. During that 5-year-period, the U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Service (INS) summoned me to 3 deportation hearings. I hired 3 lawyers and spent $20,000 on legal fees but I was still losing the battle. One day, while in Philadelphia, I broke down and prayed to Saint John Neumann and to God for help at the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral. I said to God: “If you could help me get a green card, I would promise to pull China and America closer.” I knew that China and America had different cultural values and they would need people to help mediate disputes. A few months after my had made my vow to God, a Fortune 500 company hired me and proved that I could do a job that no American citizen could do. I got my green card in 1982 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1987. I've helped a number of U.S. manufacturers make millions in exporting their products to China and Asia since that time.

I am happy for his success but I still don't understand what is so hard to digest for some. From US.Gov To become a U.S. citizen, you must: 1.Have had a Permanent Resident (Green) Card for at least five years, or for at least three years if you're filing as the spouse of a U.S. citizen. ... 2.Meet certain eligibility requirements including being. ... 3.Go through the ten step naturalization process which includes. No other country permits you to enter illegally.

I have read many times that becoming a citizen is timely and costly, but his grandparents did it. Why, since coming to the US at age 12, going to school, working as a journalist, was it not possible to become a citizen?