How Do We Define American? Jose Vargas, Symbol of Undocumented Immigrant Struggle, Detained in Texas

Jose Antonio Vargas, one of the country's bestknown undocumented immigrants, was detained by the U.S. Border Patrol on Tuesday. A Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist, Vargas came to the United States from the Philippines in 1993 at the age of 12. After reporting for the Washington Post and other outlets, he revealed his undocumented status in a widely read essay in 2011. Vargas recently traveled to the Texas border to document the crisis of thousands of migrant children fleeing violence and poverty in Central America. But he soon realized he might have trouble leaving due to the heavy presence of Border Patrol agents and checkpoints. On Tuesday, Vargas was arrested at McAllenMiller International Airport and held for about eight hours. His detention became a top U.S. trend on Twitter, with hundreds using the hashtag #IStandWithJose. As the country watched, Vargas was eventually released with a notice to appear before an immigration judge. In a statement after his release, Vargas said, "With Congress failing to act on immigration reform, and President Obama weighing his options on executive action, the critical question remainsHow do we define American?" We broadcast video of Vargas speaking in McAllen, Texas, about the U.S. treatment of child migrants just days before his arrest. "These children are not illegal; they are human beings, and they are not a national security threat," Vargas says. "The only threat that these children pose to us, is the threat of testing our own conscience."

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