Jose Antonio Vargas- My life as a undocumented immigrant

Jose Antonio Vargas was an immigrant coming from the Philippines at 12 years old. His mother sent him here for a better life for him self so he was smuggled over to the united states by a cayote. As he started his new life over here in the U.S. as he lived his life going he encountered many struggles such as not having valid documentation or not being able to obtain a proper job due to the fact of having proper documentation. Jose goes through experiences in his life such as having to learn how to speak proper English and and through this experiences he learns to read. This allows him to gain a good amount of literacy development because its needed in America when trying to not only live here but strive as well. Now this helps shape his identity because now being in American he has to shape himself to a person who looks like they belong in this life style. I think Antonio wrote this article to show no matter what struggle you face you can over come any issue. Such as the situation with the trip with his teacher or even the fact that he came out and stated he was gay shows the true strength of a person. I felt he wanted other people who are immigrants to understand his story and that its okay to be in a struggle because there is always a way out. The challenge Antonio faced was having issues coming over to the U.S as a undocumented immigrant so the struggle for work and scholarships and college was a huge issue so he came over that issue by finding connections who could help him with his successes. I would have to say Rich Fischer and Pat Hyland had a huge impact on his opportunities because they heled him with school and gaining what he needed to help him with his struggle. I thought this piece was very interesting and relatiable due to the fact that some of my relatives are immigrants so i know the struggle he went through.

1 Comment

  1. Rebekah Coleman

    Dear Elijah,
    I am so glad that you found this article relatable and interesting. I really like your summary of the piece and how you think a lot about what his purpose for writing the piece and intended audience might have been!

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