SAN FRANCISCO, California — Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas’ “Documented – a film by an illegal immigrant undocumented American” will be screened on Sat., April 19, at 4 p.m. at Golden Gate University (GGU), Room 2201, 536 Mission Street, San Francisco.
“Documented” chronicles Vargas’ journey to America from the Philippines as a child; his journey through America as an immigration reform activist; and his journey inward as he re-connects with his mother, whom he hasn’t seen in person in over 20 years. Vargas outed himself as an undocumented immigrant in a 2011 essay published in the New York Times Magazine.
The screening is hosted jointly by GGU and the online magazine Positively Filipino. A Q&A with Jose Antonio Vargas follows the screening. Seating is limited and reservations are required at pfpublisher@yahoo.
“Vargas is a rock star in the immigrant-rights community,” says Professor Jay Gonzalez III, chair of GGU’s Public Administration Department in the Edward S. Ageno School of Business and former San Francisco Immigrant Rights Commissioner.
“Shortly after his TIME magazine story on the issue of the undocumented, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that it would no longer deport young undocumented residents who qualify for the DREAM act,” Gonzalez explains. “After revealing that he had been an undocumented immigrant for more than a decade, Vargas has become immigrants’ most recognizable face and advocate.”