Hillary Clinton became the first Democratic candidate to hire a DREAMer, Lorella Praeli, to her campaign, but Bernie Sanders just stepped up his game. It was announced yesterday that El Bernie added DREAMer César Vargas to help him win the Latino vote, according to the Huffington Post.
Dream Action Coalition praised Sanders’ move to hire Vargas, saying that the 31-year-old activist “is a strong choice: he is great on immigration in general, stood with us on the border children and he wants to get the Corrections Corporation of America, GEO Group and other corporations out of politics.”
Vargas, who fights for the rights of immigrants in the United States and is a co-founder of the Dream Action Coalition, made history this year when he became the first DREAMer allowed to practice law in the state of New York.
After this very important appointment, Vargas has once again been thrust into the spotlight. So allow us to reintroduce him:
1
Vargas was born in Mexico.
Vargas was born in Mexico, but he moved to the United States when he was 5. Before working together, Sanders and Vargas had a few things in common: they are from Brooklyn and attended James Madison High School.
2
It took him almost three years to be allowed to practice law.
Vargas went on to St. Francis College, before going to the City University of New York Law School. Though he passed the bar exam, it took him almost three years to be allowed to practice, according to New York Magazine.
“We find that the undocumented status of an individual applicant does not, alone, suggest that the applicant is not possessed of the qualities that enable attorneys to vigorously defend their client’s interests within the bounds of the law, nor does it suggest that the applicant cannot protect, as an officer of the court, the rule of law and the administration of justice,” the court said.
3
Vargas was watching Sanders.
Vargas really took notice of Sanders during the refugee crisis that brought many unaccompanied minors from Central America to the United States. “Like a lot of DREAMers, Senator Sanders said we needed to protect those children,” Vargas told Fusion.
He further told Buzzfeed that he decided to join Sanders’ campaign because he believes the presidential candidate wants to make DREAMers “part of the conversation” for policies that affect Latinos.
4
People are legit excited.
Obviously, Sanders knew what he was doing because people have flooded his Facebook page with congratulatory messages.
5
He's not a filmmaker.
Vargas shares his name with another Latino, filmmaker César Vargas. And there’s already been a bit of confusion between the two. The filmmaker version of Vargas even posted a Facebook status letting his “new friends” know that he isn’t Sanders’ new hire.