Meet César Vargas: New York-Based Undocumented Lawyer Fighting for Latino Issues and Immigration
Cesar Vargas is an undocumented lawyer from New York who serves as Presidential candidate Bernie Sander's Latino Outreach Strategist and is also the co-founder of Dream Action Coalition.
During an interview with Latino Rebels, Vargas revealed that he first came to the country when he was six years old and his mother from Mexico gambled with hope for a better opportunity for her kids.
The young lawyer recounted that they literally walked the desert to cross the border and fondly told his story back when he was just a young dishwasher at Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn.
Vargas also wrote an article for Okay Africa which detailed how he identified with the struggle of other immigrants like him, particularly Black Latinos, when he was growing up.
He recalled that, back then, he discovered that, as an undocumented immigrant, he can no longer fulfil his dream of being a lawyer. However, his mother said, "When one door closes, another one opens. Go find the open door."
Vargas then started working hard and gathered information about his situation, and after three and a half grueling years, he managed to graduate college where he went on to work for two years full-time to afford his dream of entering law school.
Eventually, he saved $10,000 and managed to enroll, but explained to the dean his situation. Fortunately, the dean was kind enough to find him a full scholarship. He first burst on to the Immigration rights scene way back in 2010, where he stood in front of the U.S. Senate.
There, he saw other people like him, undocumented immigrants, who all wanted one thing -- to become legal citizens of America and afford the opportunity that comes with it.
However, despite finishing law school, he still remained an undocumented immigrant, therefore barring him from practicing his profession. It was then that he decided, along with a couple of dreamers like him, to create the Dream Action Coalition.
It was there when he met Senator Bernie Sanders, whom he felt was the only one with an honest answer regarding the issue of immigration.
In fact, according to San Diego Reader, Sanders and Vargas worked together to reach out to Hector Barajas, the director of the Deported Veterans Support House.
The three worked together to shine light to an otherwise overlooked section of immigrants, U.S. military veterans who were deported to their native countries.
It's unfortunate that after serving the United States and putting their lives on the line, these people still get deported. So, Vargas, along with Sen. Sanders and the Dream Action Coalition, hopes to reform the country's immigration policy.
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