Creatively Borderless. Founder, @DefineAmerican; author of of DEAR AMERICA: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen; co-founder of 1587 Sneakers.
United States
Joined August 2008
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A new edition of my book, DEAR AMERICA, has been released, with an updated introduction and an epilogue I wrote earlier this year that focuses on two things: the change in my own immigration status; and the need to fight the mis and disinformation that defines so much of the immigrant narrative in the era of podcasts, TikTok and YouTube. I also recorded new audio for this edition: harpercollins.com/products/d…
The Latino vote will determine a lot of races on Nov. 3rd—follow @madrid_mike for the most thoughtful analysis ⬇️
Jose Antonio Vargas retweeted
If you are not watching the Sam Sey story develop, it's worth catching up on. A conservative Christian blogger who has strongly endorsed Trump and ICE removals has been arrested and is being deported for being in the US illegally.
Jose Antonio Vargas retweeted
Being anti Black will not also erase your color so Indians, Latin Americans, Arab Americans, etc any of those groups chasing conservatives & white adjacency have a very rude awakening incoming
Jose Antonio Vargas retweeted
While “You Can See Everything” is challenging theatergoers’ ability to discern what’s real, the same test is happening 24/7 in our social media feeds.
Weekend edition of @ReliableSources featuring several stories about this subject: cnn.com/newsletters/reliable…
Jose Antonio Vargas retweeted
🚨NEW🚨A Salvadoran man in ICE detention died in Folkston, Georgia early Friday morning, likely by suicide.
Luis Sandoval’s death inside the D Ray James facility comes as federal immigration officials and private contractors threaten hunger strikers there with force-feeding.
A detained Russian hunger striker today told me ICE seems to be preparing to move forward with the force feeding, as the strike reaches its third week.
It is still not clear if Sandoval was participating in the strike:
theguardian.com/us-news/2026…
Jose Antonio Vargas retweeted
About half of farmworkers in the US are undocumented — and more have an undocumented family member.
The Trump administration’s cruelty is costing billions, costing billions more in higher cost, is spreading fear and tearing families apart.
More than 40 farmers and agricultural industry groups are warning D.C. leaders that the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration is affecting the nation’s food supply, hurting farmers and risking higher grocery prices. wapo.st/4BidkG1
Jose Antonio Vargas retweeted
The great @madrid_mike wrote about this. It’s called The Latino Century & you can find it here :
a.co/d/0bjwk66F
Latinos Are Now America’s Most Important Swing Voters nytimes.com/2026/10/25/us/po… via @NYTimes
Jose Antonio Vargas retweeted
Mixed-status parents in Chicago and Charlotte are largely staying home months after ICE operations, an Urban Institute study finds. Mothers say they worked less.
kjzz.org/the-show/2026-10-22…
You Can See Everything is not about Elizabeth Holmes’s guilt. Journalists have proven that. She is serving time.
The movie is about the very nature of storytelling, the lies we tell ourselves, how we perform it, and the cost of that performance, by the performers themselves and those who witness it in the era of likes, lies and misinformation.
Are people of Asian descent—the fastest growing immigrant group in the United States, also the world’s majority people—considered “Brown”? ⬇️
Asking if You Can See Everything is a documentary or a movie is like asking if the Trump MAGA Era is a documentary or a movie. It’s both.
You Can See Everything is a piece of timeless, transcended art that our incoherent present deserves.
Dear immigrants (and children and grandchildren of immigrants):
Do not conflate The Great Migration with your (or your parents and grandparents') migration. Much more context is needed when discussing the two. ⤵️
Jose Antonio Vargas retweeted
Filming and documenting ICE activities and arrests is the most American thing you could do. The pinnacle of First Amendment protected action.
Jose Antonio Vargas retweeted
Mr. Nilaj was ordered removed in 2008, but for whatever reasons, ICE chose to let him stay. 18 years later, after years of dutifully following his release conditions, he was unceremoniously arrested at a check-in — and now his food pantry is shuttered.
Is America greater now?
ICE just locked up the man who feeds 8,000 Bronx neighbors a month, at his own immigration hearing. Now his food pantry is shut.🤬
Aleksander Nilaj, an Albanian immigrant who founded the Open Hand food pantry in the Bronx in 2012, showed up for his immigration hearing at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. ICE agents detained him instead. He is now held at Delaney Hall, a detention center in Newark, New Jersey. bit.ly/4i8Uqse
Jose Antonio Vargas retweeted
CBS News: ICE’s aggressive crackdown is reshaping politics here along the Texas border, prompting some Latinos, including those who voted for President Trump, to shift away from Republicans.
Owners can’t find construction workers and ICE operations dominate local conversations.