Jose Antonio Vargas, an undocumented immigrant, centered his speech on what it truly meant to be American. He argues that he is fully American, having lived the majority of his life away from his immediate family in the Philippines. His speech provided a detailed account of living as an undocumented American, why he was unable to attain citizenship, his relationship with his family, or lack thereof, and how the generosity of so many people are the reasons he succeeded.
One of Vargas’ main points was the difference between an illegal alien and an undocumented American, however, the only difference is the connotation associated with each. When someone hears illegal immigrant a stereotypical person fills their mind. This person doesn’t work, won’t pay taxes, and generally thinks of the general immigrant Donald Trump describes. When presented with an undocumented American, the term loses its harshness. An undocumented American seems like someone who is trying to get their feet on solid ground and fully grasp the American dream but has hit some struggles with maintaining citizenship along the way. Jose Antonio Vargas is one of these Americans. He had to put in double effort all the time to impress his family and prevent…show more content… To be a leader, you have to be able to understand and relate to what your team members are going through. It really opened my eyes to how common undocumented immigration around the U.S. is. I’m sure there are students at UNL right now who are going through situations very similar to Vargas’. I had no idea becoming a citizen was such a process either. I was naive in assuming that once someone applied for citizenship it would take a year, maybe, for the registration process and then a couple months to prepare for a take the citizenship