The Philippine Online Chronicles

United States Immigration officials responding to the recent admission of a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist of being an illegal immigrant said they are prioritizing cases that “present the most significant threats to public safety,” meaning Jose Antonio Vargas is relatively safe from deportation.

Vargas, who was sent to the United States by his mother at age 12, finally “outed” himself as an illegal immigrant through an essay published in the New York Times last June 22.

Vargas shared the Pulitzer prize with other journalists as part of Washington Post’s team that covered the Viriginia Tech killings in 2008. He had initially submitted his story “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant” to his old paper but the Washington Post, after initially editing the piece, decided to kill it.

In a memo issued last week, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) said they will focus on illegal immigrants who are “a clear risk to national security.” ICE Director John Morton, in another memo, said they are looking at cases of “felons and repeat offenders, gang members, and those with numerous immigration violations such as illegally re-entering the U.S. and committing fraud.”

They will also have “prosecutorial discretion” for people who are enrolled in education programs, have family members who volunteered for US military service, have been living in the US since childhood or are pregnant or nursing.

GMA News Online wrote, given that Vargas had been in the US as a child, even initially unaware of his illegal status, and does not pose a threat to public safety, Vargas does not seem to be at a high risk of deportation.

FilAm lawyers at his side

Meanwhile, the Filipino American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. (FALDEF) will be helping Vargas in his advocacy to push for the DREAM Act, and to render legal assistance for him to pursue American citizenship.

The DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) Act is a US proposed bill to provide conditional permanent residency to certain illegal immigrants. It was first proposed in 2001 but has yet to be passed by Congress.

Vargas recently co-founded “Define American” which campaigns for immigration reform in the US. The campaign will be able to build off his story as a platform for their advocacy.

The National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) said, “Approximately 40 to 44 percent of the undocumented student population in the Asian community are Filipino students.

Vargas is the second Filipino to win a Pulitzer. The first was Carlos P. Romulo who won a Pulitzer Prize in Correspondence in 1942 "For his observations and forecasts of Far Eastern developments during a tour of the trouble centers from Hong Kong to Batavia,” events which led to World War II.