Reporting by Rene Ray De La Cruz, Victorville Daily Press
Faith leaders and supporters will embark on a 96-mile foot journey from the Mojave Desert to Los Angeles to bring attention to deaths at immigrant detention centers and alleged “deplorable conditions” at the facilities.
The week-long pilgrimage from the Adelanto Detention Center in the High Desert to Downtown Los Angeles will start on Tuesday, Sept. 29, in Adelanto. The caravan plans to arrive on Tuesday, Oct. 6, near the Federal Building and Metropolitan Detention Center at 300 N. Los Angeles St., Los Angeles.
Along the way, the group will make stops in Hesperia, the Cajon Pass, Lytle Creek, Fontana, La Verne, Monrovia and Alhambra.
The caravan is organized by Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE), Nefesh LA and Sacred Resistance, with support from No Camps California, the Shut Down Adelanto Coalition, the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice and Matthew 25.
Call to close all detention centers
Organizers are hoping the pilgrimage will draw attention and call for an end to the alleged “cruel immigration policy” and their cry to close detention centers nationwide.
“These religious leaders and accompanying community members will walk to bring awareness for the targeted immigrant community, and to serve as a voice of protest for those for whom it is not safe to speak out,” organizers said.
Rev. Canon Jaime Edwards-Acton of St. Stephen’s Hollywood wrote, “In my 30+ years of ministry, I have buried many people. It is one of the hardest and most sacred things a priest does.”
Edwards-Acton said Ismael Ayala-Uribe was 39 and Gabriel García-Avilés was 56 when they died at the Adelanto facility, where the “private company GEO Corp. is paid by the head to operate, and most people in this state have never heard either name.”
Ayala-Uribe died on Sept. 22, 2025, and Garcia-Aviles died on Oct. 23, 2025 after roughly a week in custody. Both deaths remain under investigation. Advocates point to them as evidence of a chronic medical crisis inside the facility, the Daily Press reported.
“We are walking 96 miles, so those names are spoken somewhere other than a court filing — and because nearly 2,000 people are still inside who have not died, and whose lives are still ours to fight for,” Edwards-Acton said.
Rabbi Susan Goldberg of Nefesh said the purpose of the walk is to remind those who are detained and the families of detainees that they are not forgotten.
“It is on purpose that Adelanto is so far from Los Angeles,” Goldberg said. “It is to keep the public’s focus away from the horrible conditions and deaths of those detained, and to hurt the families of the disappeared by keeping their loved ones so far out of reach.”
To participate or for more information, visit cluejustice.org or facebook.com/CLUEJustice.
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press.
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