DACA Recipients Detained At Border Region Checkpoint, Attorney Says

Multiple recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program were detained for hours on Monday at a Customs and Border Protection checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas, according to an immigration attorney.

The incident flies in the face of President Donald Trump’s pledge that even though he was ending the program that gives temporary protected status to undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. as children, they had “nothing to worry about” for six months.

As many as 10 DACA recipients were detained at the checkpoint Monday morning, according to immigration attorney Elba Rocha. The checkpoint is located about 70 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Rocha said neither she nor fellow lawyers had never heard of customs and border agents taking such action before. The detentions were first reported by The Monitor, the area’s newspaper. Later in the day, the paper reported that all of the individuals had been released as of 7:30 p.m.

One DACA recipient was allegedly asked to get out of the car he was in when officers found out about his status. He was then detained along with other so-called Dreamers, despite the protections they have under DACA, Rocha told HuffPost.

Agents told family members of the Dreamers that they might transfer the individuals from the checkpoint to a detention center before releasing them, Rocha said a relative of one of those who was detained told her.

CBP did not comment on whether there has been a change in policy regarding DACA recipients or the timeline. A spokesperson said that border patrol agents encountered nine individuals at the checkpoint who said they were enrolled in DACA.

“Agents validated their claims by reviewing and verifying their documents,” the CBP spokesperson said. “The individuals were then released to proceed with their journey, consistent with established policies and procedures.”

Immigrant rights advocates and undocumented young people have been on edge since Trump took office ― more so than ever after he announced his decision last week to rescind the DACA program. Established by then-President Barack Obama in 2012, it granted nearly 800,000 of the undocumented young people work permits and protections from deportation.

But even as Trump moved to end DACA, he said that “no action” would be taken for the first six months, giving Congress a window to address the issue. Trump’s pledge meant that DACA recipients will not start losing their permits in large numbers until early March and that DACA recipients will not be targeted for removal from the U.S.

Still, the alleged detentions in Falfurrias could point to something troubling for DACA recipients: either a change in policy that entails more intense screening of them, or a lack of clarity that leads to agents taking actions against Dreamers without direction from the top.

Either option would especially affect DACA recipients living along the U.S.-Mexico border. In those regions, there are checkpoints operating within 100 miles of the border, so Dreamers encounter them regularly even while remaining in the U.S.

“We’re trying to figure out the same thing everyone else is: Is this new; is this going to be for everyone; is it just the [Rio Grande Valley] sector; what are we doing here? We don’t know,” Rocha said. “What’s the purpose of all of this? Because it never happened before that we know of.”

This article has been updated to include comment from a CBP spokesperson and information about the status of the detained individuals.

Also on HuffPost

April 2015

At an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC: “Everything’s coming across the border: the illegals, the cars, the whole thing. It’s like a big mess. Blah. It’s like vomit.”

June 2015

At a speech announcing his campaign: "When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

August 2015

On NBC's "Meet the Press": “We’re going to keep the families together, we have to keep the families together, but they have to go." 

September 2015

On CBS's "60 Minutes": “We’re rounding ‘em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they’re going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesn’t sound nice. But not everything is nice.”

November 2015

On MSNBC's "Morning Joe": “You are going to have a deportation force, and you are going to do it humanely." 

February 2016

At a GOP primary debate: “We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back ― some will come back, the best, through a process.”

March 2016

At a press conference when asked if he would consider allowing undocumented immigrants to stay: "We either have a country or we don’t. We either have a country or we don’t. We have borders or we don’t have borders. And at this moment, the answer is absolutely not.”

April 2016

At an event hosted by NBC's "Today Show": “They’re going to go, and we’re going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally, OK? But it has to be done legally. ... They’re going to go, and then come back and come back legally.”

July 2016

At the Republican National Convention: "Tonight, I want every American whose demands for immigration security have been denied ― and every politician who has denied them ― to listen very closely to the words I am about to say. On January 21st of 2017, the day after I take the oath of office, Americans will finally wake up in a country where the laws of the United States are enforced."

September 2016

At a rally: “Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country. Otherwise we don’t have a country.”

September 2016

On "The Dr. Oz Show": “Well, under my plan the undocumented or, as you would say, illegal immigrant wouldn’t be in the country. They only come in the country legally.”

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.