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Part 1, Chapter 6: Mexican José and Filipino Jose
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Dear America, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Citizenship, Belonging, and Identity
Family, Love, and Intimacy
Immigration Politics and Policy
Journalism, Storytelling, and the Power of Truth
Summary
Analysis
At age 16, Vargas went to get his driver’s license, but he didn’t tell Lola or Lolo. He brought his green card and school ID to the DMV and filled out an application. But the woman behind the counter told him to leave: his green card was fake. Vargas left, and on his way home, he started to wonder whether the woman was telling the truth. At home, he ran to Lolo and asked about his green card. Lolo told him not to show it to anyone and revealed that he wasn’t supposed to be in the U.S. Vargas was shocked, then confused, then furious, and then frightened. In the following weeks, he felt that “something within [him] hardened” emotionally.
Vargas learned about his immigration status by running into one of the numerous, arbitrary legal barriers that undocumented people face in the U.S. When Lolo confirmed his fears, Vargas’s view of himself and his place in his new country changed. Specifically, this news destroyed his hope that he would eventually feel at home in the U.S. because it suggested that no amount of assimilation would ever make him truly American. His emotional “harden[ing]” shows how having to hide his status made it difficult for him to be open or vulnerable to other people.
Themes
Vargas thought about returning to the Philippines. But then he learned that his passport was fake—it had a different middle name. In fact, the man he met at the Manila airport was a smuggler. And this was just the last in a much longer series of lies. When Lolo got to America, he petitioned for Rolan and Vargas’s Mama to join him. But he falsely listed Mama as single, then started to worry that his lie would be discovered and withdrew her petition. Mama decided to send Jose to the U.S. first, but then she couldn’t find a way to follow him. Lolo and Lola hoped that Jose could find an informal job and then eventually marry a U.S. citizen. A few days later, Vargas learned that he was a “TNT” (“tago ng tago,” which means “hiding and hiding”)—an “illegal” immigrant.
The long story behind Vargas’s fake papers reflects the U.S. immigration system’s complex, often seemingly arbitrary rules. Most significantly, the U.S. government gives a strong preference to U.S. citizens’ unmarried children, but not their married children. Because Vargas’s mother couldn’t easily get residency, he couldn’t go legally either. As a result, Lolo and Lola used the only option they believed was available to them: sending him to the U.S. illegally.
Themes
