Jose Antonio Vargas Crosses Picket Line To Deliver Charged Speech On Immigration To Journalists

People had mixed response to this; the speech was good, crossing the picket line was not.   - - Donna Poisl

by Dave Jamieson

Jose Antonio Vargas, the widely known journalist-turned-immigration-activist who penned the story "My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant" for The New York Times magazine, delivered a speech to the Online News Association (ONA) on Friday in which he challenged journalists to stop using the word "illegal" when referring to undocumented immigrants.

Vargas, 31, told the conference-goers at the annual gathering that it was time all news outlets dropped their use of what he described as a politicized smear.

"I have a really personal message to deliver," Vargas said at the start of his speech. "The message is it's time we retire the word and the term 'illegal immigrant' in referring to people. It is not only an inhumane term -- it is a political term, it is an unfair term, it is an inaccurate term."
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