The FBI is doing background checks on close to half a million new hires at the U.S. Census Bureau, which means some national fingerprint checks will take longer than usual to come back by the end of April.
The backup won't affect fingerprints submitted to identify an arrested suspect.
But it will affect civil background checks submitted for employment purposes or concealed handgun licenses.
"We're just warning you in advance that as of April 28 through May 3, it's going to slow that process down, and even when they come back online, it's going to slow it down, because then they're going to be playing catchup from all the other submissions,” said DPS spokesman Cpl. Robert White.
The Texas Department of Public Safety handles an average of 35,000 federal background checks each week.
