See more photos from the caminata
NAPA, Calif. – On Saturday, June 6 in the parking lot of Napa Valley High School, over a hundred people gathered, sharing coffee, breakfast and protest signs preparing for a 3-day walk to Dublin, California with one unified message – No ICE, Legalization for All, and no ICE detention centers in the Bay Area.
The 4th Annual Caminata for Immigrant Rights, organized by the Northern California Coalition for Just Immigration Reform (NCCJIR), began in Napa where over the course of 3 days walkers trekked over 50 miles to Dublin, the location of a proposed ICE detention facility.
Various organizations from across the North Bay and beyond joined the walk including ALMAS Libres, CODEPINK Sonoma County, CSO chapters from Oakland and the North Bay, Raizes Collective, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, and over a dozen more.
Renee Saucedo is a community organizer with the Northern California Coalition for Just Immigration Reform.
“We started doing the three day walk four years ago because regionally immigrant rights groups wanted to organize around pushing for a path to citizenship policy at a national level, so we as a region joined a national campaign,” said Renee Saucedo.
Last year’s walk started in Vacaville and ended with a rally in Sacramento.
“Since then Trump has taken office again and has been implementing his fascist policies and practices, so this year we are also in addition to calling for workers for all, calling for ICE out of California. Abolish ICE, no immigrant prisons, including [in] Dublin, Gilroy, and Alcatraz,” said Saucedo.
“Entire families are being incarcerated without due process in these concentration camps and warehouses, and ICE is using violence and intimidation. It’s just terrifying,” she said, “A lot of people here are brave to put their bodies on the line and walk for three days to say enough is enough.”
Each day typically started the same: a quick good morning, breakfast, and discussing the day’s route. Signs, posters, and flags were handed out created by various community members days before.
On the first day walkers travelled from Napa to Vallejo. Many passersby, workers, and small business owners would step out and wave to show solidarity. Security teams helped to organize the walkers as they made their way along the route and volunteer street medics stood on standby.
Nissar, who requested his last name be withheld, is a volunteer street medic.
“I’m here because of my mom, she comes from Guatemala,” said Nissar, “She came here in 1970 and met my dad in LA in 1980. She didn’t become a citizen until 1996 when we moved here to Sonoma County, so it means a lot.”
Like many during the walk, Nissar also voiced concern about Delaney Hall, the immigration detention center in New Jersey facing ongoing protests and hunger strikes for its alleged abuse, spoiled food, and poor living conditions.
“I think that we should assume that what’s happening in Delaney Hall is happening everywhere else, or could potentially happen anywhere else, if we don’t do something about it,” said Nissar.
The final destination of Dublin was not a random choice. The closed Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, which was formerly a women’s prison, is being considered to become a new detention center for ICE, making it the first ICE detention center in the Bay Area.
The 2nd day, starting in Vallejo, would mark one of the most scenic sections of the walk during the crossing of the Carquinez Bridge, a memorable moment that many referred back to later.
While trekking, support vehicles followed and provided support for medical, and bathroom breaks, allowing people to catch their breath if needed. Along the route volunteers handed out water bottles, packets of electrolytes, and damp washcloths for the heat.
During breaks, spirits were high. While some people were sore and tired from walking in the heat, many still danced to music and played with a soccer ball during breaks.
On the third day of the walk, walkers arrived at the Dublin Civic Center, where another wave of allies and supporters joined the march, doubling the group’s numbers for the final stretch to the proposed detention facility.
Brandon Cavins is a volunteer organizer for Community Service Organization, member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and volunteer on the vehicle support team.
“It’s important to note that the women’s prison was shut down because of many, many, many allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse of the prisoners, so it’s fitting that they’re trying to open it as an ICE detention center,” said Brandon Cavins.
“The point of ending it there is to stand in solidarity with the community and say this is not in the interest of the people,” he said, “We’re not afraid of ICE, we’re not afraid of the attacks in our communities, and we’re ready to fight back.”
After walking through Dublin city streets and suburbs, walkers crossed a final street revealing a dry barren field lined with reporters, allies with signs, drums, and chants awaiting them at the final destination of the march.
For the next hour, various community organizers and activists delivered speeches including North Bay civil rights activist Linda Evans, who served 17 years in federal prison at Dublin.
Her shirt was covered in the names of people who had died in ICE detention centers.
“Their lives matter. And their death is a warning about what happens when we allow human suffering to be hidden behind walls,” said Evans.
“I was incarcerated here in Dublin for 17 years for my political actions. I know what cages do to people. I know what happens when human beings are treated as numbers, profit, and problems instead of people.”
