The cousin of a North Texas former DACA recipient who has been in ICE custody since October is calling for his release.
This week marks nine months since Ya’akub Ira Vijandre, a community journalist who had been active in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, was arrested outside his Arlington home and sent to the Bluebonnet Detention Facility. He was later transferred to the Folkston ICE processing center in Georgia, where he remains.
Vijandre currently doesn’t have any pending hearings, which has his cousin Krytle Canare and supporters concerned.
Vijandre’s legal team submitted a petition in federal court last fall asking for his release, and he was denied all forms of immigration relief earlier this year. His legal team appealed the decision and is waiting on responses from both cases, Canare said.
“We're in this waiting game,” she said. Canare said Vijandre is “hoping for his release and he is making the best out of his situation right now.”
Canare, who speaks to her cousin often through a tablet at the detention center, said he continues to fight his case because he says it’s not about him.
“He says the future of just freedom of speech, being able to...post what you believe is just on social media should not be the reason for, you know, in his case his detainment,” Canare said. “He continues to write, he continues to do what he did on the outside there.”
Supporters have argued that Vijandre was targeted for being an activist and Muslim. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson previously told KERA he was detained for overstaying his visa; weeks before his arrest, federal officials had revoked his DACA status over social media posts the spokesperson said were “glorifying terrorism."
KERA has reached out to the agency for an update on Vijandre’s case but has not received a response.
Detention at the Folkston center, about 1,000 miles away from his home, has not been easy for Vijandre, Canare said.
“I know that there have been times where he has been challenged by the conditions in the detention center,” she said. “But he continues to be grounded in his faith, grounded in writing. He loves to write, so he's been sharing his stories and also getting to know the stories of others in the detention center.”
Canare, who is the interim executive director of the mental health nonprofit National Asian American Pacific Islander Empowerment Network, said her cousin is finding ways not only to help himself emotionally, but also to help others.
He is a martial arts instructor and has started an early morning program with some other detainees “to make sure their physical well-being is taken care of,” she said.
He has also often found himself advocating for fellow detainees during medical emergencies because he’s one of the few in his section who speaks English and has training as a first responder, she said.
Most of Vijandre’s family has moved back to the Philippines, where they continue to support him. Canare said it’s been a collective effort from the various communities Vijandre has been involved in.
"The Filipino American community, the Muslim community, photojournalist community, all of these folks from across the country have come together to really advocate for his release,” Canare said.
Priscilla Rice is KERA’s communities reporter. Got a tip? Email her at price@kera.org.
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