(RNS) — Attorneys for Ya’akub Ira Vijandre, a Filipino artist being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Georgia, are challenging his detention in court, arguing he is being “punished for his faith, his speech and his political beliefs.”
A Muslim filmmaker and activist whose legal name is Jacob, Vijandre was detained at gunpoint by ICE officers while leaving his Dallas-area home for work on Oct. 7. His lawyers say officers unjustly targeted him based on his social media activity, which immigration enforcement officials claim “glorify terrorism,” according to a recent legal filing calling on the government to release him.
“By detaining Mr. Vijandre for his activism and journalism, the United States government is mirroring the tactics it has long criticized abroad: suppressing voices that dare challenge those in power, intimidating journalists, and chilling public debate,” Maria Kari, an attorney representing Vijandre, said in a statement Thursday (Nov. 13).
Vijandre, 38, is one of several immigrants who have been detained this year after speaking out against the war in Gaza, including Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk, Dallas community leader Marwan Marouf and Sami Hamdi, a British journalist who was detained and released this month.
Civil rights groups have criticized these detentions as violating constitutional protections for freedom of speech.
Vijandre posted publicly about his opposition to U.S. foreign policy, the policies of the Israeli government and abuse of prisoners accused of terrorism—speech that his lawyers say is protected by his First Amendment rights. “Equating such speech to ‘terrorism’ to justify detention would risk criminalizing a broad array of protected speech critical of U.S. government policy engaged in by citizens and non-citizens alike,” his lawyers wrote in a habeas corpus filed last month.
In an updated filing, the lawyers wrote that government officials have not shown that Vijandre “has done anything more than express ‘his beliefs’” and “have not pointed to any actions Mr. Vijandre has taken to showing he is a ‘terrorist’ or ‘terrorist supporter,’ as they claim.”
“The government is detaining a longtime resident because of his social media posts criticizing and reporting on prison conditions and due process violations,” said attorney Eric Lee, who is part of a team representing Vijandre. “If this constitutes ‘domestic terrorism,’ then who will be jailed next?”
The Nov. 10 filing cites a Department of Homeland Security deportation officer, Lonnie Felps, who identified three social media posts as reasons to initiate the process of stripping Vijandre’s protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — commonly known as DACA — in September and then detain him.
The first is an Instagram post that Vijandre liked depicting an image of the Shahada, or Muslim declaration of faith, along with an unattributed quote that Felps claimed is from an ISIS publication. The other posts include a religious statement and a martial arts video Vijandre posted with a BB gun demonstrating Texas’ stand your ground law. Vijandre “presents a threat to the national security interests of the United States,” Felps said on Oct. 24.
In a statement to Religion News Service on Oct. 15, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Vijandre was a subject of interest in a Dallas Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation. Vijandre’s lawyers maintain he was targeted in part because he refused to work as an informant for the FBI when asked in 2023.
Vijandre was born in the Philippines and lawfully settled in the U.S. as a child through his father’s nonimmigrant visa. Young Vijandre was later granted protection under DACA; that status is valid through May 2026. He has not been charged with a crime, according to the filing.
His friend Mohammed Ayachi told RNS in October that Vijandre is a beloved storyteller and photographer recognized for documenting local pro-Palestine demonstrations and community events and posting his coverage on his social media accounts.
“When ICE is not able to find criminals, they start picking up innocent, good people and trying to paint them as criminals to justify what they’re doing,” Ayachi said last month.
Vijandre is being held at Folkston ICE Processing Center in Folkston, Georgia. His next hearing is set for Nov. 20 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.
RELATED: ICE detains another Dallas Muslim activist, a DACA recipient