Immigrants-rights advocate Jose Antonio Vargas briefly detained He was researching child-migrant crisis

Jose Antonio Vargas was held briefly in custody while leaving Texas for Los Angeles. Jose Antonio Vargas was held briefly in custody while leaving Texas for Los Angeles. Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 58 Caption Close Immigrants-rights advocate Jose Antonio Vargas briefly detained 1 / 58 Back to Gallery

Jose Antonio Vargas, the former Bay Area journalist who has become a prominent advocate for unauthorized immigrants, was detained for several hours by U.S. border patrol agents Tuesday while trying to leave Texas for Los Angeles.

Filipino-born Vargas is living in the United States without legal permission and famously outed himself in 2011. The disclosure by the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter appeared in a New York Times magazine cover story and made him one of the most high-profile immigrants advocating for legal status in the country.

Vargas, who previously worked for The San Francisco Chronicle and Washington Post, was researching the child-refugee crisis along the Mexican border with his advocacy group Define American, according to the organization, when he was taken into custody Tuesday morning as he went through security at McAllen-Miller International Airport.

He was taken to the McAllen Border Patrol Station, where he was released in the afternoon and given a notice to appear before an immigration judge, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

"Vargas has not previously been arrested by (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) nor has the agency ever issued a detainer on him or encountered him," the agency said. "ICE is focused on smart, effective immigration enforcement that prioritizes the agency's resources to promote border security and to identify and remove criminal individuals who pose a threat to public safety and national security."

Vargas came to the United States from the Philippines as a child. As a young man, he learned that he was living in the country illegally and disclosed his situation in a 2011 New York Times magazine cover story, "My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant."

Recently, he had been promoting his film "Documented." The documentary, which aired on CNN two weeks ago, profiles children brought to this country by parents who immigrated illegally.

Vargas was in the Bay Area in August for the West Coast premiere of the film, which he debuted alongside Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

In an interview last weekend with the Dallas Morning News, Vargas acknowledged that he might have difficulty traveling in Texas, where an influx of child immigrants, mostly from Central America, has overwhelmed border agents.

"Since outing myself three years ago, I've been traveling around the country for Define American and visiting 43 states. And I've been flying by using my Philippine passport - no visa in the passport, just for ID purposes. And it's been fine. TSA accepts it," he told the paper.

After his release Tuesday, Vargas made a statement through Define American: "As an unaccompanied child migrant myself, I came to McAllen, Texas, to shed a light on children who parts of America and many in the news media are actively turning their backs on. But what I saw was the generosity of the American people, documented and undocumented, in the Rio Grande Valley."