As immigration-related detentions rise in the Central Valley, a grassroots organization has been holding regular prayer vigils outside the ICE processing center in downtown Fresno.
Faith in the Valley, a multi-faith group focused on social justice and immigrant rights, said its prayer vigils provide a space for the community to come together.
A sign at the speakers’ podium at a prayer vigil earlier this month read, “Families Are Sacred,” and included symbols from multiple religious traditions. Another sign displayed the contact number for the Valley Watch Network, the rapid response hotline for ICE sightings run by Faith in the Valley.
“When laws are written in order to take kids away from their parents, my siblings of faith, let us speak up,” Simon Biasell, a pastor at the Big Red Church, said at the February vigil. “Let us remember it is our responsibility to comfort the afflicted.”
The vigil followed heightened concern about immigration enforcement after the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents during an ICE surge in Minneapolis. Recent reports of immigrant detentions in the Fresno area — including during traffic stops and at ICE check-ins and green card appointments — have drawn widespread attention and increased turnout at community gatherings.
“Whatever has happened in Minnesota has awakened the consciousness of America and all of us,” said Dr. Sudarshan Kapoor, a Fresno State professor emeritus and member of the local Hindu community who’s lived in Fresno for six decades. “It’s very sad that we have to be here this morning.”
In a message posted on Instagram, Faith in the Valley said that across many faith traditions, congregants are taught “to protect the vulnerable and welcome the stranger,” adding that a vigil “is more than a gathering. It is a moral act and a refusal to look away.”
The organization also called for continued pressure on policymakers, urging people to demand accountability, advocate for the removal of ICE from local communities, and support those most affected by enforcement actions through accompaniment and sustained engagement.
Faith in the Valley is planning on another multi-faith prayer vigil on March 4 from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. at the ICE processing center in Fresno.
The Fresno Bee
Marina Peña is the Latino communities reporter for The Bee. She earned a bachelor’s in Political Economy and another one in Journalism from the University of Southern California. She’s originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, but grew up in Los Angeles.