The last thing reporters and editors want to be told is what to do and how to write. They don't want to be some politically correct, Orwellian, kind of like "you're telling me how to write about...?"

America is White and Black and Latino and Asian. America is mixed. America is immigrants.

One of the things I had to really wrap my head around is I have no control over what people call me: advocate, activist, gay, Filipino, undocumented person, gay person with an Asian face and Latino name.

As you can imagine, there were people who were like, "Why are you being the PC cop?" or, "This is Orwellian to tell people to stop using the word 'illegal' to refer to people." Well, I just want people to think it through.

To be in America illegally is actually a civil offense and not a criminal one.

A broken immigration system means broken families means broken lives. That's what is at stake.

A friend said to me I'm like a walking New Yorker article. It's true! That's how I write. That's how I think.