Dear America, Notes of an Undocumented Citizen

FEATURING JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS – The Trump administration is moving ahead with a proposal to curb legal residency for those immigrants who would be eligible to obtain it but who have used public assistance in the past including Section 8 housing and food stamps. The Department of Homeland Security announced the new regulation recently on its website claiming it is merely about enforcing an existing law that, “Promotes Self-Sufficiency and Protect American Taxpayers.”

A spokesperson of the National Immigration Law Center said, “This is an attack on immigrant families and an attempt to make our immigration system a pay-to-play system where only the wealthy need apply.”

But this is only the latest in a breathtaking array of attacks on undocumented and documented immigrants that have escalated under the Trump administration.

The details of the precarious lives that immigrants lead are rarely acknowledged or understood by non-immigrants. Now, a new book explores the personal pain of navigating life as an undocumented immigrant.

LA Speaking Event: Jose will be speaking on Tuesday September 25th at an event in Los Angeles, at the Bovard Auditorium on the campus of University of Southern California. The event starts at 7:30 and is hosted by Skylight Books and sponsored by KPFK.

For more information about his book tour visit www.JoseAntonioVargas.com.

Jose Antonio Vargas, Pulitzer prize winning journalist. He is the founder and CEO of the non-profit group Define American. He has written for Time magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, The New Yorker, and Washington Post. He is the winning of the Freedom to Write Award from PEN Center USA. He is also a filmmaker and his films include Documented, as well as White People which was nominated for an Emmy. His new book is called Dear America, Notes of an Undocumented Citizen.

**This segment was originally broadcast on September 24, 2018.