DILLEY — Approximately two dozen immigration advocates, faith leaders, Japanese internment camp survivors, and their descendants concluded a four-day, 45-mile pilgrimage to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley on June 27, 2026. The activists demanded the closure of the facility, which is the nation's only immigrant detention center that incarcerates parents with their children.

The pilgrimage began June 24 at the Crystal City Concentration Camp, with the group walking up to 12 miles each morning before arriving at the Dilley facility around 10 a.m. on June 27. Free Families, a national coalition, organized the event alongside Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministries, Grassroots Leadership, and Tsuru for Solidarity, a group of Japanese American concentration camp survivors and descendants working to end detention.

Interfaith leaders and activists prayed and delivered a meditative chant. Mike Ishii, executive director and co-founder of Tsuru for Solidarity, and Joe Okimoto left origami cranes on the fence at the federal immigration detention center. These paper cranes were folded by Japanese American concentration camp survivors and their descendants. "We bring [these cranes] on their behalf and in solidarity with the children and the families being subjected to violence inside of Dilley and in every detention site across the country," Ishii said. He added, "The message from us is this must stop." and "We will transform the violence. We will open the future to a new path."

Satsuki Ina, an 82-year-old Japanese internment survivor, made her second pilgrimage to the facility. Ina was born inside the Crystal City camp, where her family was held for over four years. "What is happening today is a repetition of American history, over and over and over again," Ina said. "It's heartbreaking to know we are back here again." She added, "We might be old, we might be here with our canes and our hearing aids and our walkers and our dentures, but we're mad." Regarding her granddaughter accompanying her, Ina said, "I am heartbroken again that she has to even be here."

Chizu Omori, 96, also returned to Dilley for the second time. Pastor Dianne Garcia, who leads a Mennonite community, opened the ceremony with a faith-based reflection. "We know that God cries out for justice with us, as we have cried out for justice," Garcia said. Ishii closed the ceremony by leading a chant frequently recited in Japanese internment camps: "Kodomo no tame ni. There are children, set them free."

The South Texas Family Residential Center, located about 70 miles southwest of San Antonio, opened in 2014 and became the Department of Homeland Security's largest immigrant family detention center. It can hold 2,400 people and has held children ranging from infants to teenagers. The facility closed during the Biden administration but was reopened by the Trump administration with CoreCivic, a private prison corporation, in March 2025. The daily number of children detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement increased over sixfold under the Trump administration. The Dilley facility reported two cases of measles in January 2026, and persons incarcerated there have reported moldy, worm-ridden food and neglectful medical care.