Sign up for Express
New from the Voice, Express is a daily e-edition, distributed by e-mail every weekday.
Sign up to receive Express

Login | Register
Sign up for eBulletins
Click for Mountain View, California Forecast
Voice News
Increase font Increase font
Decrease font Decrease font
Adjust text size

Vargas arrested in Minnesota
Journalist and immigration reform advocate cited for driving without valid license

Bookmark and Share
Jose Antonio Vargas, the Mountain View High School grad and immigration reform advocate, was arrested Friday and cited for driving without a valid license.

Vargas was arrested in Hennepin County by the Minnesota State Patrol, according the MinnPost in Minneapolis. Born in the Philippines, he came to California as a child and didn't learn he was undocumented until he tried to get a driver's license at age 16. A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, he gained national prominence with his article about life as an undocumented immigrant for the New York Times Magazine.

"His arrest here on a traffic violation is newsworthy because the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, which operates the county jail, participates in Secure Communities, a Bush administration initiative to secure local law enforcement cooperation in reporting undocumented immigrants to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials," according to the MinnPost.

Vargas quit his job at the Washington Post last year to start the nonprofit Define American, which seeks to elevate the discussion about immigration in the U.S. He was reportedly headed to Carlton College, where he was scheduled to speak.

He wrote that he was able to get a valid Oregon driver's license after his California license expired in 2011.

While in high school, Vargas got his start in journalism as a newsroom intern for the Mountain View Voice.

Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.


Comments

Posted by joe, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Oct 6, 2012 at 8:58 pm

he had to lie to get a drivers license in oregan what does that tell you


Posted by CopperC, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Oct 9, 2012 at 5:47 pm
CopperC is a member (registered user) of Mountain View Online

It gets better. He got off! No penalty!

Politico says "Vargas was arrested on Friday — and later released — after allegedly committing a driving infraction in Minnesota. ICE was notified because Vargas, who went public in The New York Times Magazine last year with his status as an [illegal] immigrant, provided a canceled driver’s license, according to a Minnesota state patrol spokesman. But the agency took no action"

It was only our immigration laws you broke. We don't care!


To comment on this topic, please login here if you are a registered member. If not, click here.
 

mv-voice.com   ©2013 Embarcadero Media.
All rights reserved.