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Thread: Jose Vargas,Reporter who wrote about life as illegal alien arrested in Minn.
JohnDoe2
PARADISE (San Diego)
Jose Vargas,Reporter who wrote about life as illegal alien arrested in Minn.
Reporter who wrote about life as undocumented immigrant arrested in Minnesota
By Beth Hawkins | 06:14 pm
New York Times reporter Jose Vargas was arrested Friday morning by Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport Police and charged with driving without a valid driver's license, a misdemeanor.
A native of the Philippines, Vargas is best known for his June 2011 essay, "My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant," in which he described the steps he is forced to take to work in the United States, where he has lived since 1993, when he was 12.
It's unclear why Vargas was stopped. He is scheduled to appear in Hennepin County District Court Oct. 18.
His arrest here on a traffic violation is newsworthy because the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, which operates the county jail, participates in Secure Communities, a Bush administration initiative to secure local law enforcement cooperation in reporting undocumented immigrants to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.
In response, ICE routinely places deportation holds on undocumented individuals, whether or not the offense they are suspected of merits booking into the jail. Law enforcement participation is voluntary.
According to county records, Vargas was booked into the Hennepin County Jail at 10:49 this morning. Individuals suspected of driving without a license are typically issued a citation at the scene and not arrested or held.
In marked contrast to the way most undocumented immigrants have been handled during Sheriff Rich Stanek's tenure, Vargas was released at 1:34 Friday afternoon.
Among the steps Vargas enumerated in his Times piece were his efforts to secure a valid driver's license, something he eventually managed to do in Oregon.
From the essay: "My license, issued in 2003, was set to expire eight years later, on my 30th birthday, on Feb. 3, 2011. I had eight years to succeed professionally, and to hope that some sort of immigration reform would pass in the meantime and allow me to stay.
"It seemed like all the time in the world."
Several large law enforcement agencies, including the Los Angeles Police Department and Illinois' Cook County, have refused to participate in Secure Communities, the Times reported this morning.
MinnPost learned of Vargas' arrest after business hours Friday evening; if we are able to reach Vargas or county officials for more details we will update this story.
Reporter who wrote about life as undocumented immigrant arrested in Minnesota | MinnPost
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ALIPAC
Gheen, Minnesota, United States
Jose Vargas needs to be deported immediately.
HAPPY2BME
He was released, and will remain in the US probably for the rest of his life, and despite he is here illegally, because (according to Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano) he has not murdered or raped anyone.
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Report: Immigrant Activist Jose Antonio Vargas Arrested In Minnesota
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 ...
Jose Antonio Vargas Narrowly Avoids ICE Officials
Connor Simpson
The Atlantic Wire
Activist Jose Antonio Vargas was arrested on Friday while in Minnesota and the police reported him to immigration officials, but they declined to issue a detainer that would have seen Vargas handed over to the ICE and possibly deported.
Vargas was arrested for a traffic violation on Friday morning for driving without a valid driver's licence. Vargas was originally pulled over for driving while wearing headphones. Vargas' arrest is notable because, as MinnPost points out, the county he was arrested in regularly participates in the Bush-era immigration initiative Secure Communities:
Minnesota state police officials did report Vargas to ICE. A police spokesman explained to Politico that when the arresting officer ran Vargas' Washington driver's license it came up that it was cancelled, and was flagged for fraudulent activity:
"He did produce a Washington driver's license" after being pulled over, Roeske said. "When the trooper ran the license, it showed the status [of the license] was canceled. It also indicated there may have been fraudulent activity associated with the license, that's why [it might have been] canceled. That triggered the trooper to look into that further and contact ICE (U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement)."
The spokesman wouldn't elaborate further on what "fraudulent activity" was associated with Vargas' license. But ICE officials thankfully declined not to take action action against Vargas. Don't drive with your headphones in, kids.
Jose Antonio Vargas Narrowly Avoids ICE Officials - National - The Atlantic Wire
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imblest
Originally Posted by Jean
The spokesman wouldn't elaborate further on what "fraudulent activity" was associated with Vargas' license. But ICE officials thankfully declined not to take action action against Vargas.
I would really like to know WHY they didn't take action. If he wasn't well-known, would they have detained him? Sounds like an issue of treating some folks differently from others--another instance of ignoring our founding documents which state that all men are created equal. I guess they start out equal until the govt or society decides they're not.
Immigration officials didn't ask for Vargas to be detained after arrest
by Andrew BeaujonPublishedOct. 8, 20127:17 amUpdatedOct. 8, 20127:18 am
Politico | Minneapolis Star Tribune
An official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Politico reporter Katie Glueck the agency didn't issue a notice to Minnesota police that it intended to take custody of activist journalist Jose Antonio Vargas after he was arrested for driving without a valid license Friday.
"Mr. Vargas was not arrested by ICE and no detainer was issued," an unnamed official wrote Glueck in an email.
An immigration detainer is a notice issued from the Department of Homeland Security to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies that tells them, "ICE intends to assume custody of an individual in [those agencies'] custody," according to the ICE website.
Vargas drew the cops' attention in the first place "for driving with headphones in his ears," according to an account in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He was on his way to Carleton College for a speaking engagement, Minnesota State Patrol spokesperson Eric Roeske told the paper.
When the officer found that Vargas' Washington license had been cancelled due to possible fraudulent activity, immigration officials were notified through the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The rental car he was driving was towed at the request of the rental company, Roeske said, and Vargas was booked around 10:50 a.m. into the Hennepin County jail.
He was released about three hours later and later said via his Twitter page, "Thank you to everyone for your support. I am fine."
Seattle Times reporter Lornet Turnbull reported last July that Vargas' Washington state license was canceled not because he was in the country illegally but because he could not prove he lived in the state.
His license was revoked one month after he revealed his undocumented status in an essay for The New York Times Magazine.
Immigration officials didn't ask for Vargas to be detained after arrest | Poynter.
SicNTiredInSoCal
Mexico's Maternity Ward :(
Sneaky illegals like this guy live their WHOLE lives fraudulently. Their whole life is based on lie upon lie and they have to keep the charade up to the point where they don't even know who they are any more.
ICE defends itself over Jose Antonio Vargas case
By KATIE GLUECK | 10/8/12 3:02 PM EDT
Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday defended its decision not to take any action against Jose Vargas, a journalist and activist who went public last year that he was an undocumented immigrant, after he was arrested by state patrol in Minnesota for a driving infraction.
"Mr. Vargas was not arrested by ICE, nor did the agency issue a detainer," said ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen in a statement.
"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."
Vargas, who made public his status as an undocumented immigrant last year in a story he wrote for The New York Times, was initially pulled over on Friday for driving while wearing headphones. He did not produce a valid driver's license, a Minnesota state patrol spokesman told POLITICO on Saturday, and a state liaison to ICE was contacted. The liaison spoke with Vargas, but the agency ultimately didn't pursue action, according to state patrol and ICE officials.
ICE defends itself over Jose Antonio Vargas case - Katie Glueck - POLITICO.com
i.c.e., illegal alien, jose vargas, reporter
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