WESLACO – Border Patrol is explaining the reason several Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals recipients were detained for hours at the Falfurrias checkpoint last week.

Border Patrol Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Manuel Padilla said about 10 DACA recipients were detained and processed. Then they were transferred to another station.

“I can tell you that the first few ones, it took some time because of the systems at the checkpoint, which we quickly fixed by transporting them to a station that’s faster and they are not competing with other cases that are being processed," he said. 

Padilla said when DACA members go through the checkpoint, Border Patrol verifies their status to check if they have a criminal record.

According to immigration lawyer Lionel Perez, the kind of record that constitutes deportation is only if a DACA member has a conviction.

If someone is arrested, they may be detained, questioned and let go.