Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC is demanding the immediate release of Yaakub Vijandre, a Filipino American advocate and photojournalist, who was arrested and detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Oct. 7. According to AAJC, the detention of Vijandre, a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient, was unlawful and politically motivated.
Vijandre, who has lived in the United States legally since 2001, was taken into custody at gunpoint despite having valid DACA status, which is set to remain active until May 2026. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) justified the detention on the grounds of social media AAJC argues that this move violates Vijandre’s First Amendment rights.
“Unfortunately, Vijandre’s situation is not an isolated event,” AAJC said in a statement. “It is part of an alarming trend of the administration’s attempts to silence dissent, as seen in the cases of Rümeysa Öztürk, Mahmoud Khalil and Yunseo Chung. These young activists, and many others who have gone unnamed, were targeted with immigration enforcement for their political views, which are protected under the First Amendment. This mistreatment at the hands of the government have disproportionately affected communities of color, including Asian Americans, due to their immigration statuses.”
The organization called on lawmakers to take action and denounce the use of immigration enforcement as a tool to suppress free speech.
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