Jose Antonio Vargas, Immigrant Reporter, Activist Will Not Face Immigration Charges Post-Arrest

Days after being arrested for driving without a valid drivers license in Minnesota, journalist and immigration activist Jose Antonio Vargas will not face immigration charges.

Vargas, who disclosed his undocumented status last year, was arrested by airport police on Oct. 5 at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. While he was originally pulled over for driving with his headphones on while en route to a lecture at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., according to a New York Times article, Vargas was taken into custody when police found that his driving license had been revoked in Washington State.

Because he was arrested in Hennepin County- which participates in the Secure Communities program, allowing local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal agents to help enforce immigration law- Vargas ran the risk of facing legal action.

However, Vargas, a Filipino, was released that same day and Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced it would not pursue action against Vargas since he did not pose any "public safety threats," according to  ABC News.

"Mr. Vargas was not arrested by ICE nor did the agency issue a detainer," ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen told the New York Times in an Oct. 8 article. "ICE is focused on smart, effective immigration enforcement that prioritizes the removal of public safety threats, recent border crossers and egregious immigration law violators, such as those who have been previously removed from the United States."

Originally from the Philippines, Vargas came to the US as a youth and worked as a reporter at the Washington Post and the Huffington Post. He announced that he was an undocumented immigrant last year in a New York Times Magazine piece. 

A longtime advocate for immigration, Vargas in September delivered a speech at the Online News Association where he challenged reporters to stop using the word "illegal" when referring to undocumented immigrants, the Huffington Post reported.

"I have a really personal message to deliver," Vargas said during the beginning of his speech. "The message is it's time we retire the word and the term 'illegal immigrant' in referring to people. It is not only an inhumane term -- it is a political term, it is an unfair term, it is an inaccurate term."

However, not everyone was pleased with Vargas's release.

"Jose Antonio Vargas is a classic example of how flawed the system is," US Rep. Elton Gallegly, a California Republican and chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement, told POLITICO this week. "He is just one of hundreds of thousands that are ignored, and what that does is, it sends a signal that we're not serious about certain laws."