A North Texas Muslim activist detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier month has been transferred to a detention center in Georgia.
Ya’akub Ira Vijandre’s transfer from the Bluebonnet Detention Center to the Folkston ICE processing center over 1,000 miles away has activists and his legal defense team concerned.
KERA confirmed the transfer in an online ICE detainee locator.
A joint Instagram post by the “Save Ya’akub” account and the Muslim Legal Fund of America called the move an “abrupt midnight transfer.” According to the social media post, Vijandre was taken with approximately 20 other cell mates.
After 48 hours with no communication, Vijandre “was finally able to communicate and described poor treatment and harrowing conditions,” the statement read.
Vijandre, a freelance community journalist who had been active in pro-Palestinian protests, was arrested outside his North Texas home on Oct. 7 for overstaying his visa, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told KERA.
Vijandre, who came to the U.S. from the Philippines as a child, is facing deportation after federal officials revoked his DACA status last month over social media posts the spokesperson said “glorified terrorism."
Marium Uddin, a spokesperson with the Muslim Legal Fund of America and part of Vijandre’s team of attorneys, had told KERA that he had a hearing last Wednesday.
His legal team argued his DACA status is still valid and that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services “only issued a notice of intent to terminate, but it wasn’t final.”
Priscilla Rice is KERA’s communities reporter. Got a tip? Email her at price@kera.org.
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