Watching History Be Made, at a Safe Distance.

In-house media reporter Eric Wemple of the Washington Post watched a television interview with Jose Antonio Vargas and reports:

Vargas, who entered the United States from the Philippines as an unaccompanied minor, recently saw his movie “Documented” air on CNN; the crisis involving minors from Central America spilling over the border is a core issue for his group, Define American. And so when Vargas leaped into the news this week with his detention at the McAllen-Miller International Airport in south Texas, after seeking to report on the undocumented children there, people asked, Is this a publicity stunt?

Not quite, Vargas said this morning on the CNN program “New Day.”

“Is it a stunt to get on a plane ... to try to get out of south Texas?” asked the 33-year-old Vargas, whose detention occurred when he was trying to hop on a flight to Los Angeles; he was detained for around eight hours after telling U.S. Border Patrol agents that he was in the country illegally.

He received a notice to appear before an immigration judge.

Since Wemple was reporting second-hand, there was no opportunity for follow up to ask if Mr. Vargas seriously did not research the implications of travelling domestically as an out-and-proud undocumented immigrant.

I suppose, given the privileged American life he's lived, Mr. Vargas honestly does not understand the risks and consequences of his work. I suspect too, he made a call asking for special favors that accelerated his release, which would not have been possible for other lesser knowns.

One more reason to state: Mr. Vargas' experience is a one-off here. He situation is not representative of the Central Americans arriving at the border and experiencing the detention process. Vargas should not inflate his importance, and should not try to make this story about him.

Lazy reporters like Mr. Wemple will focus on him, while the details of what is happening down there today is what the American public is really eager for news on...

(You could probably run 5 very readable, feature stories about border activities today and readers across the nation would still be hungering for more... It's a big issue out here.* Mr. Vargas -- who?-- not so much....)
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* and likely, not going away anytime soon...
(The political implications have not yet been fully grasped, I don't think, by the in-house journalists like Mr. Wemple who get all their current information second hand. Big news, for months to come... People aren't just going to look away, as much as our leaders might like.)