Excerpts: *...The uncle who brought me here turned out to be a coyote, not a relative, my grandfather later explained. Lolo scraped together enough money I eventually learned it was $4,500, a huge sum for him to pay him to smuggle me here under a fake name and fake passport. (I never saw the passport again after the flight and have always assumed that the coyote kept it.) After I arrived in America, Lolo obtained a new fake Filipino passport, in my real name this time, adorned with a fake student visa, in addition to the fraudulent green card.
**Using the fake passport, we went to the local Social Security Administration office and applied for a Social Security number and card. It was, I remember, a quick visit. When the card came in the mail, it had my full, real name, but it also clearly stated: Valid for work only with I.N.S. authorization. **When I began looking for work, a short time after the D.M.V. incident, my grandfather and I took the Social Security card to Kinkos, where he covered the I.N.S. authorization text with a sliver of white tape. We then made photocopies of the card. At a glance, at least, the copies would look like copies of a regular, unrestricted Social Security card. * *About four months into my job as a reporter for The Post, I began feeling increasingly paranoid, as if I had illegal immigrant tattooed on my forehead and in Washington, of all places, where the debates over immigration seemed never-ending. I was so eager to prove myself that I feared I was annoying some colleagues and editors and worried that any one of these professional journalists could discover my secret. The anxiety was nearly paralyzing. I decided I had to tell one of the higher-ups about my situation. I turned to Peter. * * * *By this time, Peter, who still works at The Post, had become part of management as the papers director of newsroom training and professional development. One afternoon in late October, we walked a couple of blocks to Lafayette Square, across from the White House. Over some 20 minutes, sitting on a bench, I told him everything: the Social Security card, the drivers license, Pat and Rich, my family. * * * *Peter was shocked. I understand you 100 times better now, he said. He told me that I had done the right thing by telling him, and that it was now our shared problem. He said he didnt want to do anything about it just yet. I had just been hired, he said, and I needed to prove myself. When youve done enough, he said, well tell Don and Len together. (Don Graham is the chairman of The Washington Post Company; Leonard Downie Jr. was then the papers executive editor.) A month later, I spent my first Thanksgiving in Washington with Peter and his family. * * * *In the five years that followed, I did my best to do enough. I was promoted to staff writer, reported on video-game culture, wrote a series on Washingtons H.I.V./AIDS epidemic and covered the role of technology and social media in the 2008 presidential race. I visited the White House, where I interviewed senior aides and covered a state dinner and gave the Secret Service the Social Security number I obtained with false documents.* Read more here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/magazine/my-life-as-an-undocumented-immigrant.html I find it disconcerting that an illegal alien with fake papers had access to the White House and that the Secret Service did not do a thorough background check on the SSN. The conduct of the Post doesn't surprise me a bit. J - The government is merely a servant -- merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not or ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:339302 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
