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Safe and secure

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145 comments

Safe and secure

POSTED: Sunday, October 7, 2012, 11:16 PM

Good news about my friend the former Daily News intern Jose Antonio Vargas:

Jose Antonio Vargas, the writer and activist who went public last year with his status as an undocumented immigrant, was arrested for a driving infraction in Minnesota on Friday, but federal immigration authorities did not detain him or take any other action, officials said Saturday.

Vargas, a former Washington Post reporter who revealed his status in The New York Times Magazine and touched off a debate in the journalistic community, was initially pulled over by a state trooper for driving while wearing head phones, Eric Roeske, public information officer for the Minnesota state patrol, told POLITICO.

“He did produce a Washington driver’s license” after being pulled over, Roeske said. “When the trooper ran the license, it showed the status [of the license] was canceled. It also indicated there may have been fraudulent activity associated with the license. That’s why [it might have been] canceled. That triggered the trooper to look into that further and contact ICE (U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement).”

Roeske, who had no details about the possible “fraudulent activity” regarding the license, said Vargas, who was in Minnesota for a speaking engagement that he ended up missing, “spoke to our captain that works with ICE, he had some conversations with Mr. Vargas.” Roeske said he didn’t “know what the nature of that conversation was.”

I guess Jose must have said the secret word ("Swordfish"?) because he remains a free man here in the United States -- fighting for the rights of people like himself, who were brought here as children, to remain and be recognized as Americans.

Will Bunch @ 11:16 PM  Permalink | 145 comments
145 comments
Comments  (145)
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:36 AM, 10/08/2012
    My mommy was illegal, my daddy was illegal, I am illegal and I deserve citizenship!
    CD75
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:44 PM, 10/08/2012
    Wasn't that a Cheap Trick lyric?
    bil,l atkins
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:21 AM, 10/08/2012
    He should pay a membership fee, then become a member of the club.
    Mr. Smith
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:26 AM, 10/08/2012
    "Fighting for the rights of people like himself"??? If he was brought here as a child ILLEGALLY and is still here ILLEGALLY then he doesn't have the same rights as an American citizen...pretty simple
    mickeith72
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:55 AM, 10/08/2012
    My parents robbed a bank, but please don't take away the nice house the nice house that I live in that they bought with the stolen bank funds....
    Wiseman6
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:59 AM, 10/08/2012
    he's lucky he wasn't wearing a Romney/Ryan t-shirt. or a whistleblower on security at the consulate in benghazi.
    teardownthisfishwrap
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 7:11 AM, 10/08/2012
    Is there a list of laws written somewhere stating which laws we can ignore?
    tr88
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 7:13 AM, 10/08/2012
    It's OK to be an illegal alien but a US citizen can be intimidated without a peep from the media for wearing a Romney t shirt here in fascist liberal Amerika.
    tr88
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 7:58 AM, 10/08/2012
    I have to side with the law on this one. This guy has a lot of nerve. And so do you, Bunch.
    wokmaster
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:48 AM, 10/08/2012
    .....he's also lucky he wasn't digging for details on fast & furious. hey - does anyone remember when cover-ups were newsworthy? IIRC, it helps to sell newspapers as well. or maybe earn a pulitzer? but that was then and this is now, right bunch? lol
    teardownthisfishwrap
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:21 AM, 10/08/2012
    What if you or I did this.Would we walk? Outrageous.
    barneygoogle
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:28 AM, 10/08/2012
    Good thing he didn't get pulled over in Arizona. They would have shot him.
    Hamlet
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:42 AM, 10/08/2012
    I wonder if Bunch would have such a man crush on Vargas if he took his job? Nice to know some people can choose which laws to obey and those people get nice write ups from Bunch. Yikes!
    fredgwynne
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:44 AM, 10/08/2012
    Do you really want to prove that you're an idiot? Good news! All you have to do is go around saying things like this:

    "It's OK to be an illegal alien but a US citizen can be intimidated without a peep from the media for wearing a Romney t shirt here in fascist liberal Amerika. "
    Hamlet
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:55 AM, 10/08/2012
    No doubt, Hamlet, tr88 is an imbecile but let me one up him with this scumbag quote...

    "For some reason I tuned into the last few laps of that race in Talladega. I found myself hoping that someone would die(after watching the Eagles game)." - RufusG
    wokmaster


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Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.

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