McALLEN, Texas (AP) – Prominent immigration activist and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, who has lived and worked in the U.S. for years without legal documentation, was detained Tuesday by U.S. Border Patrol agents at a South Texas airport.
Border Patrol spokesman Omar Zamora said Vargas was in custody, but he had no other details about the case.
Vargas had been in McAllen, a city along the Mexico border, for several days as part of a vigil drawing attention to the plight of unaccompanied immigrant children and families coming into the U.S. illegally. At the city’s airport, only a few miles from the border, Border Patrol agents stand beside Transportation Security Administration agents to check documentation, even for domestic flights.
On Tuesday morning, Vargas tweeted: “About to go thru security at McAllen Airport. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
His spokeswoman, Maria Cruz Lee, declined immediate comment. She said a statement would be issued later in the day.