SAT . A 38-year-old man who has been protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration program for the past 12 years was detained by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this month, with the agency citing his social media posts as the reason for terminating his DACA status

A 38-year-old man who has been protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration program for the past 12 years was detained by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this month, with the agency citing his social media posts as the reason for terminating his DACA status.

Yaa’kub Ira Vijandre, whose legal name is Jacob Ira Azurin Vijandre, is a Filipino immigrant, freelance journalist and activist in the Dallas area whowas detained October 7, 2025, while leaving his home for work.

Vijandre is one of several immigrants who have been detained this year after speaking out against the war in Gaza, including students Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk, and British commentator Sami Hamdi, who was detained over the weekend while on a speaking tour.

In addition to opposing the war in Gaza, Vijandre also spoke out against human rights abuses at ICE facilities and “the US government’s inhumane and illegal treatment of those it accuses of terrorism,” his attorneys said in a statement.

His detainment came a day after he recorded and participated in a local city council meeting in the Dallas suburb of Richardson, Texas, where he gave vocal support for a local community leader who was detained by ICE, according to a court filing from his legal team Monday.

His attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition Monday, arguing their client is being unlawfully detained and asking the court for his release.

Vijandre has DACA status through May 2026 and hasn’t been charged with a crime in the United States or elsewhere, according to the filing. Vijandre came legally to the US in 2001 at age14 under his father’s H-4 non-immigrant visa, which expired in 2004, the filing says. He was granted DACA status in February 2013, and it was again granted on May 3, 2024, after he reapplied.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement shared with CNN Monday that Vijandre posted content on his social media “glorifying terrorism,” and said he supported groups such as the Holy Land Foundation, a former US-based Muslim charity where five members were convicted in a contested series of trials on charges of conspiring to support terrorism and launder money for Hamas.

Monday’s filing denies Vijandrehas supported terrorism, and argues hisFirst and Fifth amendment rights have been violated and the court should order his release and provide injunctive relief to prevent “further unlawful detention.”

On the morning of October 7, Vijandre was leaving his home in Arlington, Texas, when ICE agents arrested him while at least one officer pointed a handgun at him, Monday’s filing said.

A Notice of Intent to Terminate DACA dated September 22 was sentto Vijandre andfound in his mailbox several days after he was detained by ICE, according to the filing.

The notice alleges Vijandre supported “organizations and individuals who are known to engage in acts of terrorism,” which “presents public safety, national security concerns, and is a significant negative discretionary factor under the totality of the circumstances analysis,” Monday’s habeas filing said.

His legal team argues DHS is conflating supporting terrorism with Vijandre’s “opposition to U.S. foreign policy, the policies of the Israeli government, and abuse of prisoners with support for terrorism,” the filing says.

“In each of the three cases listed above, what Respondents characterize as support for terrorism actually consists of opposing perceived violation of detainee rights, including at black site prisons like Guantanamo Bay and Bagram Air Force Base,” the habeas petition says. “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.”

Even if the speech did support terrorism, “such speech is plainly protected by the First Amendment,” the filing says, and the speech referenced by DHS “unquestionably fails this test regardless of whatever grounds of removability Respondents ultimately charge Mr. Vijandre in his Notice to Appear.”

Vijandre is not charged or convicted of any crime, his attorneys said.

His detainment also comes after he was approached by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigations and asked to act as a confidential informant shortly after the Israel-Gaza conflict started in 2023, the filing says.

On or around November 30, 2023, agents approached Vijandre, indicating they wanted to recruit him as a confidential informant, and allegedly said he was “a poster child for the way you’re supposed to do it” in an apparent reference to immigration status, the filing says. He declined the offer, according to the filing.

A form called a Record of Deportable/Inadmissible Alien provided to Vijandre’s attorneys said that he was a “subject of interest to the [FBI’s] Dallas Join (sic) Terrorism Task Force” at an unspecified time, and the FBI initiated a review of his immigration record, the filing says.

His team alleges that his detainment is, in part,retaliation for not agreeing to work with the FBI.

Vijandre’s attorneys ring alarm bells

Attorneys representing Vijandre raised alarm bellsabout the implications of their client’s detainment, saying in Monday’s filing that “important democratic principles are at stake.”

This is another example in a string of cases this year in whichthe Trump administration is aiming to root out any immigrants it views as unpatriotic, and specifically associate those who are pro-Palestinian as being anti-American, said Marium Uddin, an attorney representing Vijandre and Legal Director of the Muslim Legal Fund of America.

They appear to target people expressing dissent, which is disturbing from a legal perspective but also “incredibly scary as a country,” she said, adding that is testing whether our legal systems will stay intact and follow decades of legal precedent.

Eric Lee, another attorney representing Vijandre, said his legal team meticulously analyzed their client’s social media presence and believe the government has failed to come close to satisfying imminent incitement, a legal precedent used to decide if speech is protected under the first amendment.

The legal team is confident based on their review, and believe the Trump administration is looking to expand the definition of domestic terrorism despite their client’s protected speech aboutthings like ICE enforcement and inhumane detention at places like Guantanamo Bay.