‘Carry one another’s burden’: Texas pastor marches 90 miles to protest ICE detentions

By the afternoon of Feb. 28, Rev. Dianne Garcia will have walked 90 miles—from the Dilley Detention Center to the San Antonio Immigration Court—in the hope that her pilgrimage brings awareness to the conditions inside the facility.

Garcia, pastor of the immigrant-led Roca de Refugio Church, has seen 18 members of her congregation detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since last May. To her, the nearly 26 miles she walks each day pale in comparison to what detainees are enduring.

“In some ways, I feel like I should get some blisters on my feet,” Garcia told COURIER Texas. “We’re called to carry one another’s burdens, and this is part of that. It’s about raising awareness. It’s about bringing healing.”

Reports of inhumane conditions—including contaminated food, little to no access to education, and inadequate medical care—have surrounded the detention center in recent months. Across Texas, six deaths have been reported in detention facilities over a six-week period.

“I can’t be inside the detention center, but I can be out here in solidarity with those families,” she said.

Garcia began her walk Feb. 25 and will conclude with a rally in San Antonio on Feb. 28 near the immigration courthouse. Each day, she is dropped off at the previous day’s stopping point and returns home to San Antonio at night. Staying hydrated, grabbing quick meals, and taking rest breaks are essential to completing the daily marathon.

Throughout the pilgrimage, Garcia has received strong support from passersby who, she says, are “waking up to see what the administration is actually doing.”

“I really hope that the pilgrimage is a beginning,” she said. “When we finish it, that’s the start of new community and coalition work rather than the end.”

KEEP READING: “I have been here too long”: Read letters from the children detained at ICE’s Dilley facility