1/15/26 Reposted from cair.com
The Dallas/Fort Worth office of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-DFW), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization joins CAIR Action, the Muslim Legal Fund of American (MLFA), Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ), the Free Yaa’Kub Campaign, Lee & Godshall-Bennett, LLP, Project TAHA, Immigrant Rights Groups, Civil Liberties organizations, and the DFW community in demanding the release of Yaa’Kub (Jacob) Ira Vijandre who has been unjustly detained by ICE for 100 days. Yaakub is an active upstanding member of the Dallas/Ft. Worth Community and a long-time recipient of legal status through the DACA program.
“In 100 days of detention…100 days of being subjected to humiliation and stripped away from a life that I have built in America for over two decades, away from my loved ones and my community. I continue to remain a captive and thereby should be granted freedom and given recompense from what was taken from me by simply upholding the true American values.”
-Yaa’Kub Ira Vijandre, 100-day Detainee
Folkston ICE Processing Centre
Sameeha Rizvi, Texas Policy and Advocacy for CAIR Action, said: “DHS and ICE have repeatedly shown their blatant disregard for the law and the Constitution, and Yaakub’s case makes that undeniable. He was lawfully exercising protected political speech and has been punished by an immigration system that suppresses dissent and denies due process. Yaakub belongs free alongside his community – his detention is not an anomaly, but the predictable result of a system built to silence and intimidate marginalized people. One hundred days without justice or freedom is cruel, unconstitutional, and must end now.”
Maria Kari, attorney and Executive Director of Project TAHA said: “For nearly 250 years, American public discourse has been built on the right to protest, report on protest, challenge the government’s narrative, and debate the issues that shape our democracy. And yet, for one hundred days, the government has held photojournalist Yaakub Ira Vijandre captive for doing exactly that. This detention is retaliatory, unjust, and part of a broader campaign to intimidate and silence dissent. Yaakub is the canary in the coal mine — allowing the government to silence a journalist today will endanger free speech nationwide.”
Mustafaa Carroll, Executive Director of CAIR-DFW stated: “The current Administration claims of trying to purge undocumented residents and criminals from U.S. soil has predominantly resulted in the detainment of hardworking, residents with no criminal records, and those lawfully allowed to be in the country as is the case with Yaa’Kub Ira Vijandre. Additionally, the Administration is targeting folks based on their ethnicity and/or those perceived to be against the genocide in Gaza, thereby weakening our first amendment protections.”
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
