A caravan of immigrant rights activists and musicians drove to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center near Victorville on Saturday to stage a protest concert and caravan outside the detention center.
About 30 cars and three charter buses traveled roughly 70 miles from Pasadena to the Adelanto ICE facility and arrived around 3:30 p.m.
The caravan was organized by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) and its affiliate organizations, whose representatives said the event was meant to draw attention to the conditions inside the facility, the deaths reported at the Adelanto detention facility over the past year, and to raise the spirits of the people inside.
When the caravan arrived, musicians from several bands — including headliners Los Jornaleros del Norte — jumped on a mobile stage truck and began performing. Protesters throughout the afternoon danced and chanted as the group performed songs calling for the closure of the facility and release of workers detained there.
Halfway through the event, protesters marched down the block to the west end of the facility to make sure the music could be heard more clearly by the people being held inside.
“We moved to this side because we got some calls from inside from people saying they couldn’t hear us,” said Pablo Alvarado, executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.
NDLON representatives later said some people with loved ones inside the facility confirmed they were able to hear the music after the group moved.
Caleb Soto, an attorney with NDLON, said advocates believe the conditions inside the privately run detention center reflect DHS’ cruelty against immigrant communities.
“The people who are being killed inside there aren’t being killed just because of neglect,” said Soto. “It’s because of what’s called organized abandonment. It’s on purpose.”
The Department of Homeland Security has disputed criticism of the facility and says detention centers operate according to federal standards.
Among those attending the protest was a man who identified himself only as Jesus due to fear of retaliation. He said he was arrested in August and spent several months detained at the Otay Mesa Detention Center and Imperial Regional Detention Facility. He was released in January.
Speaking in Spanish, Jesus said he witnessed things “he’ll never forget,” such as people who were seriously ill and others who signed deportation papers because they were afraid to remain in custody.
“And the sadness was too strong,” he said.
However, Jesus said his experience was marked by the hope and resilience of detainees who supported each other.
“The humility of people … people of different countries who shared their food, experiences and hopes,” he said. “And through that time what kept me strong was thinking of my wife and family. They never stopped fighting for me.”
He said he came to the protest so people detained inside the Adelanto facility could hear the music and know they are not alone.
Jose Madera, director of the Pasadena Community Job Center, said the event’s organizers believe joy itself can be a form of resistance.
“And that’s why we come with art and music,” he said. “Because this government wants us to be miserable. It wants us to give up. That’s why we say, ‘the people save the people,’ because as you see behind me, hundreds of people from different places are coming together to say they don’t like what’s going on.”
This story was edited with support from The California Newsroom, a collaboration of public media outlets throughout the state
