White flowers were laid next to signs displaying photographs of people said to have died in detention centers, the signs propped against a chain-link fence outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles.
Just minutes before, dozens of people walked to the building, carrying signs bearing the faces of men, women, and even a young child whose deaths they allege detention centers, or the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, are responsible for. Two signs featured names people nationwide are likely to know: Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti.
“We are not afraid,” the crowd sang. “We are not afraid. We will live for liberation ‘cause we know why we were made.”
These were some of the concluding moments in a nearly 100-mile journey on foot
that an estimated 18 people took — plus others who joined for several days, said Rabbi Susan Goldberg. She was among the faith leaders who made this journey, and their arrival in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, Oct. 6, was met with cheers.
The pilgrimage was organized by the Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice, Nefesh LA and Sacred Resistance and in partnership with No Camps California, Shut Down Adelanto Coalition, the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice and Matthew 25. Its purpose was to call for an end to what they say is a “cruel immigration policy” and to close all detention centers, organizers said.
“Sometimes people think, ‘Well, that’s so dramatic to walk 98 miles from a detention center to Los Angeles — from the high desert through the mountains,” Goldberg said. “But these are dramatic times.”
She said that as a Jewish person, she knows that “awful things can happen” when people don’t stand up and speak out.
Goldberg said they’ve been “overwhelmed” by people who’ve brought them water, food, and band-aids for their blisters since their departure at the end of September. All the while, they’ve been “holding in our hearts the immigrant families who are going through just a horrendous time.”
‘Every step we’ve taken has been a prayer’
The pilgrimage began at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in the high desert. It’s “so far away,” said Susan Garcia, who walked a portion of the journey. To her, that was done on purpose, so no one would see or know what’s going on there.
“Every step we’ve taken has been a prayer for a person that’s been locked up, detained, killed,” she told the USA TODAY Network.
Just a day before marchers ended their journey in downtown Los Angeles, the news broke that the GEO Group sold its Adelanto ICE Processing Center complex to the United States for $950 million. That includes the Adelanto West ICE Processing Center, the Adelanto East ICE Processing Center, and the Desert View Annex facilities, all in the high desert, the GEO Group said on Oct. 5.
At the Desert View Annex, detainees were reported to have gone on a hunger strike in May, seeking basic human rights and dignity at the high desert facility. At the start of the year, a lawsuit alleged that people detained at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center were routinely denied consistent medical care, proper nutrition, and sanitary living conditions, among other allegations.
But the Adelanto facility isn’t the only one under scrutiny in California. In its examination of conditions at seven immigration detention facilities across the state, the California Department of Justice found issues related to health care services, drinking water, and sufficient food.
“At multiple facilities, detainees reported overcrowding, undercooked food, inadequate clothing, and poor access to clean drinking water,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said in May.
The operators of these facilities, including the GEO Group, responded to DOJ’s report in lengthy statements provided to the USA TODAY Network earlier this year; A spokesperson for the GEO Group said its support services are monitored for compliance with ICE’s detention standards and contract requirements regarding the treatment and services detainees receive.
“What’s being done to people, taking them and separating them from their families and disappearing people — I mean, that’s something we always thought of taking place in other countries, not this country,” said 88-year-old Patrick Bonner, who attended the conclusion of the pilgrimage in Los Angeles.
Victorville Daily Press reporter McKenna Mobley contributed to this story.
Paris Barraza covers Los Angeles and Southern California for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at pbarraza@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nearly 100-mile march protesting detention centers ends in LA
