I sincerely doubt he posed any threat to anybody. On Thu, Jun 23, 2011 at 10:32 AM, Jerry Barnes <critic...@gmail.com> wrote: > > 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:339306 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
