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Drudge Mistakenly Reports That Antonio Villaraigosa Turned Himself Into Department of Homeland Security
Whoops! Drudge Report mixed up his Antonios and reported that our former mayor had turned himself into the Department of Homeland Security.
In fact, the link directed readers to a Politico article penned by activist and journalist Jose Antonio Vargas. Vargas outed himself as an undocumented immigrant in June 2011 in the New York Times and has continued to press for immigration reform in the years since. Despite living in the United States for 21 years, he still feel vulnerable. In July, he was arrested by immigration authorities for the first time when he tried to fly out of McAllen, Texas. He writes about his decision to turn himself in:
At a press conference two weeks ago in Washington, D.C., a 52-year-old woman who said she’s never been targeted by immigration officials because “I’m German and I am blond and blue-eyed” stood alongside a 35-year-old man from Mexico who was detained by immigration authorities when he tried to apply for a driver’s license under a new Illinois law. Michaela Graham, the German immigrant, has been in the United States for 28 years. Felipe de Jesus Diosdado, the Mexican immigrant, has lived in America for 17 years. We 11 immigrants, who represent the diversity and complexity of America’s estimated 11 million undocumented population, filed cases as a group and asked DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson to grant us and those like us deferred action, which is a temporary stay from deportations. It’s neither amnesty nor a path to citizenship. It’s merely a way to stop the deportations that upend the lives of hundreds of families each day, and the nagging fear that constantly eats away at us.
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Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
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