Blog #5

Throughout the passage Outlaw: My Life in America as an Undocumented Immigrant” by Jose Antonio Vargas the terms “undocumented immigrants and “ilegal aliens” have been used. The term undocumented immigrant is to be considered an alien who has been granted the rights by the USCIS to permanently be in the U.S while an ilegal alien is wether a person is an immigrant, visitor, or someone who has gotten through the border without going through customs or immigration. These are terms used by the government to describe those who came to the U.S with the proper documentation and or authorization. The passage describes Jose Antonio’s situation where he was brought over to the U.S by a coyote, a person who smuggles undocumented immigrants to the united states. He was bought when he was 12 because his mother wanted to give him a better life but came to the U.S. with no proper documentation. Jose slowly started to realize he was an undocumented immigrant. One situation arose where Jose rode his bike to the DMV and unknowingly presented a false green card. Various situations like these were presented where a passport, license, green card or social security was needed for certain things he wanted to do. The term undocumented immigrant can be used to describe varargs and others in his situation. Terminology becomes  very important because no human is “illegal” on stolen land, there are various other terms that can be used instead of “illegal” such as undocumented immigrants or non citizens. If people are being referred as illegal, illegal alien, wetbacks and more it is very inhuman and dehumanizing.

Comments ( 2 )

  1. Joseph Nicolas Vargas
    I agree that these terms are dehumanizing.
  2. Asya Parson
    I agree because the terms that are used towards immigrants and even the way immigrants are treated today is disgusting and that passage just emphasize the point that immigrants need to be treated better.

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