A Stockton woman has created a tearful tribute to honor those who’ve died in ICE detention centers and immigration-enforcement raids across the country since 2025.
Alicia Ramirez has assembled a virtual cemetery using a collection of framed photos, candles and other remembrances of at least 56 victims that can be viewed at the downtown Mexican Heritage Center at 111 S. Sutter St.
“The title of my altar is ‘In Memory of Those Who Never Came Home,’” Ramirez said.
Her ofrenda (Spanish for offering) is featured on the center stage and is part of a larger, annual display where other families are remembering their own deceased loved ones as part of the Dia de los Muertos tradition.
Altar blessings will begin at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16 but the overall
sacred presentation can be viewed through Nov. 2.
Ramirez, 71, says she comes from an immigrant family and believes in standing up for immigrant rights. She said her parents are from Texas and her grandparents are from Mexico.
“My parents were immigrant. They followed the migrants’ dream, so this is very close to me,” she said.
Ramirez, who calls herself a local advocate for the immigrant community, says she feels deeply affected by the ongoing operations of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), whose agents are questioning and arresting people suspected of violating immigration laws across the country.
“All the names you see on the stage should be alive today,” she said.
“The persons being remembered in the ofrenda should be honored, respected and their loss mourned. This tragedy must be scrutinized and stopped,” she added.
Ramirez says some of the visitors who’ve already seen her altar say they’ve been moved to tears.
“They were touched by it and a couple of people wanted to cry,” she said.
Ramirez said she, too, shed tears a couple of times when she was putting up the altar.
“Just out of nowhere, I would see this man’s face and I had to lay it down. I just had to take a moment,” she said. “I was thinking, ‘Why am I doing this?’ You know, he shouldn’t even be in this picture. He shouldn’t be dead.”
Ramirez cited the Detention Watch Network, which has reported at least 56 deaths of people in ICE custody since the Trump Administration took office.
She is honoring not only Hispanic men and women, but any immigrant who died regardless of their race, including U.S. citizens. She said many of those she’s honoring share an indigenous heritage.
She included a few pictures of children from earlier years who’ve died during attempted border crossings “in pursuit of a better life.”
Ramirez also wants to give credit to Rene Espinoza, Beatriz Flores and Gracie Madrid, president of the Mexican Heritage Center, for supporting the effort.
Madrid said the altar traditions surrounding Dia de los Muertos are a celebration of life for families’ loved ones.
“We're not celebrating their passing, we're celebrating what they were in life and what they meant to us,” she said.
The ofrendas give the spirits of those who’ve passed away a place to come and visit.
The altars often are decorated with pictures and personal items sometimes using serapes and papel picado, brightly-colored tissue paper used to create garlands and hanging banners.
Marigolds are popular, which is the flower of the dead, Madrid said, as is pan dulce, the Mexican sweet bread.
Oftentimes there’s water for the dead, because “they’re gonna be thirsty when they get here” and sometimes there’s salt, “Because they're gonna use salt with their food,” Madrid said.
Las Vegas Raiders’ football memorabilia are popular for those who were fans. Once, Madrid recalls a family placing a bucket of Kentucky Fried chicken because their grandmother loved it.
In the near future, Madrid says the center is holding its annual Dia de Los Muertos Community Street Fiesta on Oct. 24.
“We close the streets outside and we have a big fiesta,” she said.
Meanwhile, Ramirez, who plans on attending Friday’s ceremony, hopes her altar stirs awareness of ICE operations in the nation.
“My hopes are that the community does not turn a blind eye to the brutal arrests and poor living conditions within detention centers,” she said.
Mike Chapman is a veteran Northern California reporter and photojournalist who retired from the Redding Record Searchlight. His byline also has appeared in the USA TODAY Network, Siskiyou Daily News and the Eureka Times-Standard.
This article originally appeared on The Record: Stockton ofrenda remembers lives lost in ICE custody
