Jose Antonio Vargas Driver's License Canceled By Washington State (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

[Hissyspit]

Source: Huffington Post

Jose Antonio Vargas Driver's License Canceled By Washington State

By MANUEL VALDES 07/21/11 05:52 PM ET

SEATTLE -- Washington state has canceled the driver's license of a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who publicly said he is an illegal immigrant.

Officials opened an investigation after Jose Antonio Vargas' essay about his background was published in the New York Times Magazine in June, Department of Licensing spokeswoman Christine Anthony said Thursday.

Vargas wrote in the essay that he obtained a driver's license in Washington earlier this year after his Oregon license expired.

- snip -

Vargas was part of the Washington Post team that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre. He had also interned for The San Francisco Chronicle and the Philadelphia Daily News, and most recently was a senior contributing editor at Huffington Post.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/21/jose-antonio-vargas-drivers-license_n_906306.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

[naaman fletcher]

1. meh..

should he get special treatment or is even equal before the law?

[pnwmom]

2. He publicly acknowledged he wasn't a Washington resident.

What did he expect?

[demosincebirth]

3. What's he going to think when they deport him? Maybe "I should have kept my mouth shut."

[Hissyspit]

He was making a point about the state of our immigration laws in going public.

Google his article and an interview with him.

[demosincebirth]

16. He made his point.

[Hissyspit]

10. dupe -delete

[guruoo]

4. He didn't live in Washington state, the state found out and revoked his licence.

"...concluded that he wasn't residing at the address he provided us,"

[alp227]

5. that's alright with me, and JAV should get a punishment of some order

At the most severe, deportation and a 10-year ban on re-entry (IIRC, that's the current law). The way reformers would like to see it, he has to pay a fine and back taxes to get temporary residency and a path to citizenship.

[sudopod]

7. The horror!

"The way reformers would like to see it, he has to pay a fine and back taxes to get temporary residency and a path to citizenship."

Sounds just like Hitler to me!

[EFerrari]

8. Baloney, he was brought here as a mnor. He should in no case

be deported.

[alp227]

17. he was 12 when he was brought here, I don't think he'd have too much trouble in his native country

so personally I wouldn't object to the federal government initiating proceedings anytime. If you read his NY Times Magazine article you'll notice how he continued to speak Tagalog at home growing up in America, for instance. With an American journalism prize why would Philippine news publications resist him?

[EFerrari]

19. That's unbelievably unfair. This is a person's life you're talking about.

All of his relationships are here. And his acculturation was here, too.

[alp227]

22. But I don't know how to defend his falsification of documents to gain employment n/t

[No Elephants]

25. I'd have trouble living in the neighborhood in which I lived when I was 12 and I've

never lived outside the lower 48.

Things change.

[Lasher]

24. If he wasn't born here, he wasn't young enough for it to make a legal difference.

You know the law.

[No Elephants]

26. Almost everyone agrees immigration law needs to change, though.

[Lasher]

27. But all of those people do not favor a more lenient approach, Elephants.

A CBS News/New York Times poll conducted (in April) shows that Americans support tougher immigration enforcement laws like the controversial Arizona Senate Bill 1070. The majority (51%) agree that the bill is "about right" edging out the 36% who feel SB 1070 goes too far. I've had the same response here at About.com's Immigration Issues, where readers have made it very clear that they support Arizona SB 1070.

Judging by the poll, Americans seem to be ready for immigration reform. More than 89% of respondents said that U.S. needs to fundamentally change or completely rebuild its immigration policy. Not surprisingly, illegal immigration is identified as a very serious problem in the U.S. (65%). Most people feel that undocumented immigrants weaken the economy (74%) and that we could be doing more (78%) to decrease the amount of illegal immigration into our country.

http://immigration.about.com/b/2010/05/05/new-poll-shows-americans-support-arizona-senate-bill-1070.htm

[xxqqqzme]

18. What 'back' taxes?

If he has a drivers license, he has a social security number so he's paid FICA and all other taxes deducted from paychecks. Probably paid income taxes as well. So, again I ask, what back taxes?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

21. The Insufficient Albedo Tax, no doubt. -nt

[sudopod]

6. All you tools that are getting aroused by this should realize that his speaking out

is a form of civil disobedience in protest of how we treat immigrants in this country. Vargas fully understands the consequences of his actions and is using them to make a point. Having a Pulitzer provides publicity and leverage for his cause, not protection.

All of this appears to have flown over many heads, sadly.

TL;DR, this thread: "OOH BOY, he's gonna get his lol!!11111one"

[Hissyspit]

9. I noticed it seemed to be going over heads.

[Bragi]

28. The law and order crowd on DU is always sad to see

No matter what the issue, there are people at DU who are as hardcore law-and-order, punitive, hang 'em high, as you're likely to find anywhere, including on right wing discussion boards. Sad really.

[BNJMN]

11. The man has a Pulitzer, cmon. Clearly he broke no law if he has a P U L I T Z E R. Think peeple! nt

[Hissyspit]

14. Not. The. Point.

Not his point in writing his article.

Not my point in posting this.

[LanternWaste]

20. Hence the reason only Pulitzer Prize winners...

Hence the reason only Pulitzer Prize winners do 70mph in a 65mph zone... for all the relevance in the first place.

[BNJMN]

23. Well excccuuuuuse me!

Anyways, what *is* the point of mentioning his Pulitzer?

[robcon]

12. Laws are for non-Pulitzer winners.

:sarcasm:

[Hissyspit]

13. Not. The. Point.

[sudopod]

15. Sorry things god so badly derailed. O_o nt