Report: Immigrant Activist Jose Antonio Vargas Arrested In Minnesota

Jose Antonio Vargas calls on media outlets to drop the term "illegal immigrant" at the 2012 Online News Association Conference and Awards Banquet in San Francisco on Sept. 21. (Ingrid Rojas/ABC-Univision)

 

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Journalist and immigration activist Jose Antonio Vargas was arrested Friday at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and charged with driving without a valid driver's license, the non-profit news organization MinnPost reported.

Airport police took Vargas into custody Friday morning, but he was released in the mid-afternoon, according to the report. The charge on which he was arrested is a misdemeanor and Vargas is scheduled to appear in Hennepin County court on Oct. 18.

Ingrid Rojas/ABC-Univision

Jose Antonio Vargas calls on media outlets to... View Full Size

Ingrid Rojas/ABC-Univision

Jose Antonio Vargas calls on media outlets to drop the term "illegal immigrant" at the 2012 Online News Association Conference and Awards Banquet in San Francisco on Sept. 21.

Hennepin County participates in the Secure Communities program, which allows local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with the federal government in enforcing immigration law by checking arrestees against immigration databases. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could act if the individual is found to be undocumented. Other details about Vargas' arrest are unknown.

Vargas hails from the Philippines and formerly worked at the Washington Post and The Huffington Post before going public with his undocumented status last year.

UPDATED: "Thank you to everyone for your support. I am fine," Vargas tweeted at 9:34 p.m.