The Philippine Online Chronicles

Following the bold action of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas who recently revealed his status as an undocumented immigrant in the United States in an article published by the New York Times, youth 'illegal immigrants' are organizing protests in a bid to declare that they're "undocumented and unafraid."

Eighteen-year old Dulce Guerrero who came to the U.S. from Mexico when she was still 2, will lead the protests at the Georgia State Capitol on Tuesday together with other high-school age undocumented immigrants.

Actions by young activists ranged from rallies and letter-writing to sit-ins and civil disobedience, , with the aim of forcing the federal government to reform rules for immigrants in their situation, Associated Press reported.

As estimate 11 million people are living and working in the U.S. as 'illegal immigrants.'

Varied reactions on Vargas

Based on Vargas' account, he was only 12 years old when he went to the U.S to live with his grandparents. He discovered that his green card was fake when he tried to apply for a drivers' license at the age of 16. He managed to finish college and land jobs at several prominent U.S. newspapers despite his 'immigration problem'. Since he was 22, he had been using a counterfeit Social Security ID and Drivers' License.

Vargas was part of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for The Washington Post for their coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings in 2008. He also covered a variety of topics including Obama's new media campaign and also profiled Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Vargas' revelations that he had been living in the U.S. illegally for almost two decades gathered varied reactions. In the article, he said, “I'm an American, I just don't have the right papers to prove it.”

Many readers were moved by Vargas' story and admired his courage.

A reader from Washington said, “Jose, you are an extremely courageous man. I can't imagine how hard it was to make the decision to reveal your status despite of all of your successes but you knew how important was to bring attention to the issue of young children raised to be all they can be, but bearing the burden of a decision they didn't make. Thank you for your courage!” while another from New York commented, “Thank you for your story. I hope sharing it gets both you and the millions of other undocumented Americans you speak the reprieve you deserve.”

But Slate.com columnist Jack Shafer called Vargas a 'habitual liar.' “But the fact that Vargas lied about his noncompliance with what I (and others) consider to be an unjust law cannot be waved off. The trouble with habitual liars, and Vargas confesses to having told lie after lie to protect himself from deportation, is that they tend to get too good at it. Lying becomes reflex. And a confessed liar is not somebody you want working on your newspaper,” Shafer said in his commentary.

Campaign for immigration reforms

Vargas said he decided to confess his citizenship status last December when U.S. Congress failed to pass the DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) introduced by Dick Durbin and Harry Reid in the U.S. Senate and by Howard Berman, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Lucille Roybal-Allard in the U.S. House of Representatives.

If passed, the DREAM Act would grant conditional citizenship to illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children , if they go to college or serve in the military.

Vargas started Define American, an online campaign for the passage of the DREAM Act.

Last month, U.S. President Barack Obama called on on Congress to take steps forward on a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would put 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. on a pathway toward citizenship.

The first ever Senate hearing on the DREAM Act is scheduled on June 28.