Out of Hiding

Prize Winning Journalist Confesses to Being Illegal Immigrant

Jose Antonio Vargas backs the DREAM Act.

Jose Antonio Vargas, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, has admitted to living in the United States illegally. His mother sent him to the U.S. from the Philippines when he was 12 years old, and he did not learn of his illegal status until four years later. He was able to get his first reporting jobs using a fake Social Security card, and other fake documents. Later in his career, he used a fake driver’s license to get into the White House for a State dinner. He has admitted to his status after all these years in order to lend support to the DREAM Act and help push it through Congress, and he says he is aware that he could be deported.