Jose Vargas Duped Me— But Does That Matter?

The editor-at-large of the San Francisco Chronicle was "duped" by his former employee Jose Antonio Vargas, the journalist who recently admitted to being an illegal immigrant. "Jose lied to me and everyone else he worked for, and that's not kosher, especially in a profession where facts and, more elusively, the truth are considered valuable commodities," writes Phil Bronstein. Even so, it's worth questioning how Vargas' lies, and ultimately his confession, will impact "the atrociously rudderless but vicious debate on immigration reform."

Immigration laws are, after all, "a hopeless jumble of unenforced, unenforceable, or just plain unaddressed issues covering 11 million people." It's possible this incident will support "a potentially powerful new movement in the push for immigration reform," by getting the DREAM Act passed and giving a face to "those millions of people out there floating in terrifying limbo." If Vargas' story spurs the government to "craft sane immigration policy," Bronstein concludes, "we should forgive him his lies." (More Dream Act stories.)