Jose Antonio Vargas, NY Times - Since publicly declaring my undocumented status in The New York Times Magazine in 2011, I’ve been all over the country, to 48 states, engaging with people of all kinds — Democrats, Republicans, young, old. And what I’ve learned is that immigration is one of the most fraught yet least understood issues in America. Many people have no idea how our immigration system works.
The question I get asked most is, “Why don’t you just get in the back of the line and make yourself legal?”
Well, there is no line. No standardized legalization process exists for America’s more than 11 million undocumented people. The government either wants to deport you or force you to leave for a consular interview in another country in order to receive a green card or visa, with no guarantee that you’ll be allowed to return to the place you call home...
In my guest essay for Times Opinion this week, I chronicle my decades-long journey to securing documented status through an O visa, illustrating how the process is so arbitrary and Byzantine that it is often downright impossible for undocumented Americans to become legal residents. And, as Congress passes legislation with bipartisan support to deny migrants due process, and Trump pushes his own black-and-white solution to immigration, I encourage you to fight for the nuances.
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