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Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. To search for the Our American Stories podcast, go to the iHeartRadio app.
Apple Podcasts. or wherever you get your podcast. Vincent Rocco Vargas is a former Army Ranger turned U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent. He is now an actor who has played the role of Gilberto Gili Lopez on Mayan's MC, a spin-off of the FX original hit series Sons of Anarchy.
Vargas is the author of Borderline, Defending the Homefront, a book printed under retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willinks. Publishing Company. Here's Vincent Vargas. with his story. I was born in Los Angeles, California in 81.
My grandmother. Wasn't a Legal immigrant. She actually was born in Mexico, just on the other side of the border. Her sister. was born on this side of the border, on the American side, and Was an American citizen by birth, and she died at a very young age, and my grandmother.
Took her identity just so she can be a legal citizen. And my mother. She Wanted more for herself. And so when she turned 18, she had a family member out in Los Angeles. She had a change of clothes.
in a paper bag, a toothpaste, toothbrush, and I think it was $15, and a bus ticket to LA. My parents met when my mom stayed at an apartment building that my uncle, by chance, was a manager at. He was managing, he was like making sure everything was good. And he calls my dad, who was in the Marines at the time. My father was forced to go to the Marines.
It was either that or go to prison. He got into a gang fight moving to LA. A Puerto Rican kid joined a Mexican gang because that's what you do. He was part of that era where the fights were more with belts and chains and pipes and nothing else. Kind of the greasers versus the socials kind of thing.
They settled right there in the LA area. You know, they struggled for a little bit. My father got out of the Marines and got into construction, he was a framer. You just was a hard working person. During a rainy season as a framer, he had a file for unemployment.
And when he went to the unemployment office, he saw a big poster for LA City firefighters. And he applied. And I remember our life completely changing dramatically one year from selling a small house, a two-bedroom house, four kids sleeping in one room, two bunk beds, the boys on one bunk beds, the girls on the other bunk beds, and my dad's and my mom and dad's room, to buying a A house with three bedrooms, and me and my brother sharing a room, and my sister's sharing a room. It's just like I saw our life change dramatically, and my dad getting a solid job for the family. I played baseball since I was four.
Travel ball, well, travel ball like year-round ball since I was seven. Um It was a way to stay out of the gangs. The gangs was very prevalent. From my dad's era of gangs to my brother's era of gangs, it turned into drive-bys and shootings. Quite often, we had friends who would succumb to gang violence.
You heard a drive-by shooting, you're like, oh, that was probably on Figueroa, or that was probably on Orion. We were scared, you know, sometimes walking around at night, hanging out with friends, even if it had anything to do with gangs. It was just being in the area at the time. If a vehicle was driving slow, we always dropped to the ground and stayed low until it drove by, and we'd pop back up and continue to conversation like nothing ever happened. I didn't know myself to be good at anything other than baseball.
I wasn't good at reading. I was dyslexic as a kid. It was undiagnosed for a long time, so I didn't know I had a problem. I just thought I was dumb. Got out of high school.
I didn't pass an SAT, so I had to go to junior college for baseball, which was the path I wanted to go anyways, because I believed I can get drafted faster that way.
So I went to LA Valley Community College. Eventually, academics got the best of me again, just immaturity. I decided to join the military. I'm watching the news and I'm seeing this marine Put the American flag over the statue of Saddam as they pull it down. It's a very iconic visual.
I think we've all seen it. And I remember them interviewing his family and how proud of him they were. They were. crying and they were just so they were so proud of their own son And I sat there watching this thinking, I don't know if my family has ever felt that way about me. I don't know if I've ever given them.
something to be that proud of me. And that uh that idea hurt. I had a lost the the one thing that I thought I was good at. I have a daughter on the way who I want to be a dad. Like, I want to be a dad.
And I have no money to support her. The next day I showed up to the Army recruiting. I showed the recruiting station, tried to figure out which one I wanted. Eventually I settled on the Army, the Special Operations. I saw the movie Black Hawk Down and it inspired me to think if I would ever have the guts to take the fight to the enemy, I would like to test myself and see if I do.
To watch these young men fight for something that they believe in. It felt like a baseball team, but with a different mission. You know, it felt like the camaraderie again. And I thought, well, if I die serving this country, All things are fulfilled. My daughter gets money.
At the time, she would have got $400,000. my parents would have had a son who's a hero. and I wouldn't have to continue facing this world where I don't have baseball in it. And so I joined during a time of war, knowing that I was going to war as an infantryman. With a ranger contract, and after six months of waiting and two credit cards maxed out, because thinking I'm gonna die anyway, so I ain't never gonna have to pay this back, I went to the military and Thirty days after all my training, I find myself in Afghanistan.
Fast forward, you know, in the four years of my military career, I lost a few friends.
Some bras and some brim. And It always gets me when I say their names. who are two of probably the best. in our career field to ever do the job. which puts things into a weird perspective where you see life and say Well they're the best.
And uh They were killed. And where does that put thee? It made me question If there was more out in the world that I could accomplish, And that if I need to get out before It's my time as well to be killed. And you've been listening to Vincent Rocco Vargas share his story and his family's story. And there's that moment he sees the statue of Saddam Hussein Tapel.
These Marines are holding up a flag and the family is so proud of their son. And he's wondering, have I done anything in my life? to earn such regard or respect for my own family. He joins the army. and his life begins to change.
When we come back, more of Vincent Rocco of Argus' story. Here on Our American Stories. Lee Habib here again. Our American Stories tries to tell the stories of America's past and present to Americans, and we want to hear your stories too. They're some of our favorites.
Send them to us. Go to OwamericanStories.com and click the Your Stories tab. Again, please go to OwamericanStories.com. and click. the Your Stories tab.
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See terms. I have type 2 diabetes, but I manage it well. It's a little bill with a big story to tell. I take one's daily journey at each day And for adults with type 2 diabetes and known heart disease, Jardians can lower the risk of cardiovascular death too. Prescription Jardians, Empiglflozin 10 or 25 milligram tablets, are used to lower blood sugar along with diet and exercise in adults with type 2 diabetes.
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And we continue with our American stories and Vincent Rocco Vargas' story. Let's pick up. where we last left off. While in the military and seeing it all and seeing what I could do, I realized I wanted to live. and I wanted to accomplish more and I wanted to be in my kids lives.
At that time, getting out, I had three kids, and I just wanted to be better for them. And so, after the four years of special operations, three deployments. Eventually, I got the call to be a board of patrol agent in 2009. And you You know, up until this point, my race and culture wasn't a topic of discussion. It was.
Am I race and my culture? I grew up in LA. The melting pot. Even though I was Puerto Rican, I didn't know what that was. I was the only Puerto Rican there.
I knew what Puerto Rican was from my grandmother, my cousins, and uncles, but like genuinely, I was Mexican by the way I was raised. I was Mexican by the culture my mother presented. But it wasn't something that we pushed onto people, or I felt I needed to be so proud of that I just shared it. I don't know, it wasn't a thing for us. And not that I'm not, I'm super proud of being, I'm super proud of being Latino.
I'm proud of being Mexican and Puerto Rican. I'm proud of both of those cultures, and I'll never deny them. But it wasn't. that I ever had to. You know, I was in a world where everyone was a different race in LA.
And in the military, no one cared about color. We cared about surviving. You know what I mean?
So it wasn't as prevalent. When I went to Kentucky, I saw a bit of it. I thought it was funny when someone said, Hey, those guys are called the Amigos when they're washing dishes at in in Texas Roadhouse. I'm like, What do you mean amigos? What's their name?
You know, they're like, I don't know, they call them amigos. I'm like, What the f So I'd say, what's your name? Jose. I was like, okay, what's your name? Luis.
Okay, cool. Jose Luis. And I was like, that's so weird. They call him amigos. But it was, I was so.
distant from this this race thing that everyone jumps on. But then I they didn't ra weren't raised like me. Where in my class there's Asians, there's blacks, there's whites, there's everything, and no one really cared. We just kind of existed. And sometimes we use our color of our skin or our cultures as a joke of connection.
You know, and it was this really beautiful thing. And in the military, it's no different.
So, and in baseball, it's no different.
So, to see it outside of it, and I didn't think anything of it. I'm just like, all right, well, whatever.
Now I'm a border trader And I'm starting to get these comments of, Hey, dude, you're a Mexican. Why are you stopping your own people? And I was like Uh what? And I don't think I was articulate enough. and had enough education on the topic to even speak on it.
I was just confused. And so I found it fascinating that people didn't understand the difference of like being an American citizen, but as well as. Wanting to protect America you know, after 9-11, this homeland security push. and then on the other side of also being proud of being Latino and Mexican. You know what I mean?
And yeah, I remember my first apprehension. And In getting this job, I learned more about my culture. I asked my mom about my grandmother, right? I asked about how they were raised. I asked about her, you know, working in the field if she needed to, right?
I asked about all that, and I was fascinated. I was actually, the way I saw it with my perception of it was what a beautiful thing to see my family come from that to continue to grow. I saw it. in a perspective of growth. And I saw the that as the American way.
The opportunity of what America presents. And so I was very proud of being American. I was very proud of my Mexican and Puerto Rican culture and what my parents have been able to provide for us, and what I turn around want to provide for my kids. But then I'm getting the backlash of saying, hey, Vargas, que pasol. Vargas, what's up?
What are you doing? You're Vargas. You know what I mean?
You're Hispanic too. And it it made me really You know, I apprehended a woman, a man, and a little girl, and I saw a reflection of my own grandmother in there. And. I thought like, yeah, this is a... This is an interesting and very complex topic.
Because My grandmother came over illegally. Yeah. But here I am stopping those dreams. The duality of being a Border Patrol agent is being human enough to see the empathetic side. Of this immigration situation.
But also being protective enough of your own people, your own family, and friends to understand the security aspect needs also to be upheld. You know, the interesting perspective of the border is that There's some people that say that, why do we even have borders? And other people say, lock all the borders. And it really comes down to like If you want to understand the border and why we need a border, it's like, well, why do you need doors? You have a front door?
I have a front door. But why do we choose to have a front door? Because we want to feel protected. And I'll take it even deeper: that everyone chooses how much protection they choose to have on their own house. Right, some people have alarms, some people have gated communities, and we all choose that.
Why? Because we all want to feel secure. And in in that, you know, in that micro version of like us personally, in the macro, it's the border. In that same version of you wanting to have a front door in your house, and that you want to be able to address anyone that comes to your door, and whether you allow them into your house or when you can tell them they can leave, right? No one comes over for a party and stays for 12 days.
You're like, oh, it's time to go home, big guy. You know what I mean?
But with us in our own house, we choose who we allow in our house and who we don't. Right? Because of sometimes the fear of safety, security. And in that same thought process, it's no different than our borders. We should know.
Who comes across our borders? What's their intentions? How long do they choose to plan to stay? And if we don't, well, then we open ourselves up for some serious risk. And I fear these outliers who don't believe in the American way of life, it's just the reality of it.
And So when there's an argument about the border, I'm always like, well... You choose to protect your house. We should be allowed to protect our own country. which inadvertently is our house. And so I hope that when people hear that perspective they kind of understand it a little bit better.
When you're in the Border Patrol Academy, there's a portion of it where they want to make sure you know how to swim. There's some basics to that because. You work potentially in the Rio Grande River, where we have a lot of drowning deaths a year. Not the border patrol per se, but illegal migrants attempting to cross. Uh, one day it was like, man, I was pretty new in the Border Patrol and uh I was with a senior guy, and we're driving.
We see a group try and cross, and we hear the commotion.
Someone's drowning.
Someone lost their footing and they're starting to drown. And I looked at my sword. I was like, What are we going to do? He's like, Nothing. I'm like, What do you mean?
Nothing. He goes, Well, I'm not going to go in there. And I was like, Well, do you mind if I do? He's like, I don't recommend it, Vargas. I don't recommend it.
I was like, Well, look, I'm a really good swimmer. I grew up in LA. I swam since I was four. I did the whole beach thing, so I know what I'm doing. He said, If you want to, I took off my gun belt, I took off all my stuff.
I actually ripped my top off so fast that the sleeve cuff stayed on. And so I'm in my underwear, a green shirt, and a cuff still on. And I jump in there to try and save this dude. I jumped into the water, it was cold. It took my breath away for a second.
And I knew that was coming, so I was prepared for the mental. I was like, Okay, let's go. I start swimming, swimming, swimming, get closer to him. Eventually, as I get close, and I'm thinking, like, all right, I'm gonna grab him, and I'm the one who pull me down. We get washed up upon a short spot, and um.
We stand up and look at each other, and it was this really odd moment of in the middle of the Rio Grande River where he hadn't crossed any. Thing where he's illegal, and I'm not crossing any further.
So we kind of looked at each other. He said, Gracias. And I said, For what? I didn't do nothing, but okay. I turned around and walked back, and it was a really weird moment, but.
You know, it. It raises the question, why is he crossing a river if he can't swim? Why did any of these people do it? And uh That's what Most I think people who don't understand this They don't get to see. And so I think they lose the context of the human aspect of this.
Their lives are in a position where they are willing to risk their life. for a chance. and America. There's people in America that don't even appreciate our country that much. And we've been listening to Vincent Rocco Vargas.
He's a former Army Ranger turned U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent. And he's been sharing with us the story of his family, his family heritage, his time in Iraq. And it's time just seeing carnage, seeing friends killed. Coming back wanting to do something for his family, wanting to be a good father, wanting to be a good provider, and also wanting to serve.
And describing the border situation in a way that very few people in America can is both. a man of Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage. but yet also explaining that we have to protect Not just our borders, but our house. the American house. And yet having that empathy.
to connect to those people who are coming across the border, coming across the Rio Grande and risking their lives to come here and that appreciation for what the American dream represents, the magnet that it is. When we come back. More of Vincent Rocco Vargas' story. Eere. on our American stories.
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Well, that's a trick question, because both are recipes for chaos. Either way, just say to yourself, This is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. You'll get matched with candidates that meet the skills, certifications, and everything else you're looking for. Or, go a different way. and get no traction.
Seriously, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95% more likely to report a higher than nonsponsored jobs. It really is a no-brainer. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs.
And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status it deserves at indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to indeed.com slash podcast right now. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire?
This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. I have type 2 diabetes, but I manage it well. It's a little bill with a big story to tell. I take once daily journey at each day store. And for adults with type 2 diabetes and known heart disease, Jardians can lower the risk of cardiovascular death too.
Prescription Jardians, Empigliflozin 10 or 25 milligram tablets, are used to lower blood sugar along with diet and exercise in adults with type 2 diabetes. Jardians is not for use to lower blood sugar in people with type 1 diabetes and not for people with type 2 diabetes who have severe kidney disease. Serious side effects include increased ketones in blood or urine and infection between and around the anus and genitals. Both may be fatal. Severe allergic reactions, dehydration, urinary tract or genital yeast infections in men and women, and low blood sugar.
Stop taking and tell your doctor right away if you have nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, tiredness, rash, swelling, trouble breathing, or swallowing. Tell your doctor about lightheadedness, weakness, fever, pain, tenderness, redness, or swelling between the anus and genitals. You may have increased risk for lower limb loss. Call your doctor right away if you have new pain or tenderness, sores, ulcers, or infection in your legs or feet. To learn more about Jardian's 10 or 25 milligram tablets, ask your doctor, visit jardians.com, or call 1-888-968-6648.
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Tax extra. And we continue with Our American Stories and Vincent Rocco Vargas' story. Let's pick up where we last left off. There's people in America that take it for granted. They crap all over our own country, but they don't realize people are losing their lives just the attempt.
for an opportunity to work to make money for safety?
so they don't get killed from cartel. Or the corruption? That same exact river where I was, my buddy worked in Boat Crew, and a lady sees his boat pull up and they're trying to pull up a couple of people who are stranded and she throws a baby at him. And he luckily catches the baby and he was so mad. He's like, why would she throw this baby?
And he starts telling her in Spanish, like, hey, what's wrong with you? And she looked and said, you don't know my life. In that moment he said, You're right. I don't. We can't sit here and try and make a determination.
Of, like, why are they coming to our country? We know why. They're scared for their lives. They want opportunity. They want a chance at a life, and they're willing to throw their baby at you.
just so that baby can have a better opportunity at this, at what this is, this beautiful country that gives opportunity. It's no different than my mother, my grandmother coming across. and creating this world that's put me in the position I am today. It's no different. And it put me in a really odd position as a Board of Tradesian.
And I said, you know what? I really love this job and what it does and what it can do. And what more can I do? I thought if I became a medic and saved as many lives as possible, I'd be paying off a debt of guilt that I can face my God in heaven and say, was that enough? Didn't Did I earn my way back?
And uh And I know that's not how My God would see it, but that's how my heart felt. I felt I had. had uh had to pay back. Um I had to save as many souls as I possibly could to feel uh worthy of heaven. And I became a medic and I was able to save a lot of lives.
For the Special Operations side of the Border Patrol, a side of the Border Patrol that most don't know, the humanitarian side of us saving as many lives as possible daily on the border. The Border Patrol Special Operations Group saves more lives than any other organization on the border. The Border Patrol as a whole stops more drugs than any other organization in the nation. And so the humanitarian side of this job This really beautiful, delicate, complex job was what I did for the last portion, five years of my career. You know the the Border Patrol Has to deal with a lot of the cartel situation.
When I say the cartel, it's more like drug smuggling organizations, multiple different cartels, but they're all drug smuggling organizations as well as human smuggling organizations. And then there's always a fear that the cartel is going to do something on our side of the country, on our side to slow us down, to hurt us. You hear threats about it. You know, there's this weird Copaesthetic kind of balance that happens on the border with us in the cartel. It's this.
It's not any kind of written law or anything, but it's Essentially The cat and mouse game of this all, they get enough of cross that they're happy, and we stop enough that we're happy. The checks and balances are good to go for both sides. And not intentionally, it's just the way the nature of the beast. But if at any point a smuggler gets out of hand If they decide to bring a gun and they engage on one of our border troll agents, which has happened. Um Everything changes.
We will We will Bring in A massive amount of security personnel bodies, and we will shut down that border better than ever. And that hurts the cartel even more. And so in this really weird balance of it all, Uh The cartel doesn't allow that. If someone does step out a hand, you'll see them. Not directly message Border Patrol, but public news, you'll see that they will either.
kill whoever did it. Or they'll bring him and drop him off at the border and say, hey, these are the guys. They try and correct that wrong because they want homeostasis on the border. their version of homeostasis on the border as much as possible.
So their business can be could run as usual. It's this very weird dynamic that it's like, like I said, it's not a written rule, it's just this weird version of a balance at the border that. is kind of managed by the cartel on their side. And as well as if it gets out of hand on our side, they tend to clean that up themselves as well. It's interesting.
With apprehensions on the border, I think, you know, most people talk about, you know, Mexicans across the border, but. You know, because of proximity, there's a lot of Mexicans who do, right? But the biggest thing you see is. OTMs, they call it, is other than Mexicans. And that's kind of a term that name has kind of been determined by the cartel actually in their smuggling efforts and how they label them.
But as well as outside of OTMs or other than Mexicans, you have exotics as well. And so we have currently right now, I think there's more other than Mexicans and exotics coming across the border daily. You know, at one point there was more Venezuelans, Haitians, Asians who are coming across the border currently at this time.
So, you know, it's really, it's just any kind of illegal immigration has to be kind of identified as that because it's random who crosses that border. And random so much so that, you know, it wasn't uncommon for us to catch people on the terrorists' watch list or the FBI's most wanted list. You know, where else can you circumvent a system by crossing the southern border by trying to get away or not be detected through? you know ports of entry. This job is a lot more intricate than the world really knows, and I think it's important for people to kind of get more educated on it.
John Legozamo did a one-man show once. And I was probably 13 at the time I saw it. In an hour, He made me laugh cry. smile, question everything. And that was...
That was heavy for a 13-year-old kid to feel all that. It was like, wow, what a special thing. And I knew I wanted to try and do the same for others. And so I resigned from the Border Patrol, and I said it's time to focus on my family. My four kids.
I was a single father of four kids. And my career that would give me more time with them. And so I have committed back to my family. I've committed back to my God, and I've committed to the pursuit of Being an actor and writer in a way that is valuable for society. It's been a challenge.
You know what I mean?
Because the entertainment industry is a fight. It's a dog fight, you know? And. I was fortunate enough to show up to LA at the right place at the right time for an audition and landed. a role in Mayans.
I start off as a guest star. then became a season regular in season three and then became a writer in season five. And currently working on a few other projects that I hope I can continue to be. A messenger of valuable content and telling stories that inspire and motivate, like the people who did that before me. And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Greg Hengler.
And a special thanks to Vincent Rocco Vargas. Former Army Ranger, turned U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent, turned medic. Turn actor And of course, when you're an actor and then you start to write, you're what we are: you're a storyteller. And we love sharing stories of every dimension of American life, old and new.
And we never do issues here on this show, and this was not an immigration issue. In the end, it was a human issue. And it was a human story, not an immigration story. And being on the border, as he said, is a beautiful. delicate and complex job.
And boy, must it be. Especially when you're seeing those kids. coming across the Rio Grande, some of them whom you know are being trafficked by cartels, and yet having to do your job. We should protect the American house. and how to do that with dignity.
and had to do that with honor and with self-respect. Indeed, that's why he became a medic. Because in the end he wanted to just focus on that humanitarian side of being a Border Patrol agent. And then of course leaving that recommitting to his family, to his faith, and becoming an actor. and in the end becoming a storyteller.
The story of Vincent Rocco Vargas. Here on Our American Stories. I'm getting. We learned how to love dogs from the dogs that loved us and waited for us to get home from school. They were the dogs that raised us.
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