It was early in Ramadan, and a group of Muslim detainees in a Folkston, Georgia, immigrant detention center set up a makeshift dinner table. Using clean trash bags as a tablecloth and prayer mats as seats, they broke their fast on small portions of ramen noodles and brown rice, microwaved with water and sardine sauce, topped with fish and spice packets.
“We gathered our leftovers to see what we can put together,” said Yaakub Ira Vijandre, a Muslim Filipino American who has been in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody for five months. Sometimes the guards don’t pass out enough pre-dawn breakfasts, and the detainees share that too. Only by befriending Muslim cooks at the center who share extra food after their shifts does Vijandre feel fed after his 14-hour fast.
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