Visitation ministry offers compassion to those impacted by immigration detention
PDA webinar highlights nonprofit that supports individuals who are detained and their family members and sheds light on human rights issues
A ministry that combats the isolation and dehumanization of immigration detention was highlighted during the latest migration education webinar by Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.
El Refugio, a ministry in Georgia that serves immigrants held at Stewart Detention Center as well as their family members, was featured during the second episode in a series hosted by Omar Salinas-Chacón, mission specialist for PDA’s Migration Accompaniment Ministries.
Viewers heard a brief presentation by Amilcar Valencia, El Refugio’s director, who explained the work of the ministry, which was started about 15 years ago and provides hospitality, visitation, support and advocacy, including producing reports on human rights issues at the detention center located in the small town of Lumpkin, Georgia.
At Stewart, “people are regularly and systematically denied access to the most basic forms of health care and subjected to conditions that cause lasting harm,” El Refugio noted in a July 2025 report. “Since the current administration took office, people detained have reported overcrowding. Such conditions exacerbate the medical neglect and abuse that people detained at Stewart have endured for years. Now the situation is even more dangerous especially for vulnerable populations, including pregnant people, people with disabilities, and those with chronic medical and mental health conditions.”
During PDA’s webinar, Valencia noted: “When you have a system that is overloaded with people, then you have more and more of these issues in detention,” adding of Stewart, “Unfortunately, it's one of the deadliest facilities in the country.”
Prior to Valencia’s presentation, viewers were shown “Locked in a Box,” an award-winning short documentary by Counter Stories Productions that follows the stories of detained individuals and the people who visit them.
Since the release of the 2015 film, high numbers of immigrants continue to be detained and the Trump administration has unleashed a multifaceted immigration crackdown that has been decried by immigration advocates across the United States.
As of August, there were “61,000 people detained across the country, and unfortunately, it's only going to get worse as the administration puts more pressure on ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents and border patrol agents to arrest more people,” Salinas-Chacón said.
Valencia made similar comments, noting that “there is a massive system that has been built over the years to hold immigrants, and this administration now has the money and the resources to increase” the numbers of those being detained to 100,000 or more.
Detention places a strain not only on those being held but their families as well.
El Refugio, which operates a hospitality house, prides itself on being “a safe, welcoming and warm space to families, to people who are impacted by detention, especially in the environment today where immigrant communities are under attack,” Valencia said. Anywhere they go, whether heading to work or church or taking their children to school, “they could be detained and transferred to Immigration and started (on) the deportation process.”
Some families travel for hours to see relatives who are detained at Stewart, so El Refugio operates a hospitality house for their convenience. Before it was opened, “some families were sleeping in their car in the parking lot or the gas station in town, or they drove eight hours, went to the detention center for their visit, and then headed out back to their homes,” Valencia said.
The hospitality house provides a place for people to rest, eat and receive other support, including sometimes staying overnight, as well as information.
Another aspect of what El Refugio does is that “we visit people who are detained,” which provides the opportunity to develop relationships, get to know the immigrants’ stories and advocate for them, Valencia said.
Unlike more formal programs, “we just created our own list of people and visit them — very informal,” Valencia said. “We don't go into a special room. We don't have any special access. We just go through the same … process as any loved one will go through, and we visit as friends to someone who is detained.”
Some roadblocks were mentioned during the Q&A portion of the webinar, with some people noting that visitation has been curtailed at some centers and that it can be difficult to get into places, such as federal buildings, that sometimes are being used as detention centers.
Valencia spoke of the influence that members of Congress can have. “Even if they're not allowed to go into the facility, but maybe are able to advocate for someone and then have a press conference … those things are very important today.”
Also, “simple acts of hospitality, generosity and support,” such as helping to cover immigration fees or attorney fees or even writing letters to people who are detained can be helpful, Valencia said.
Don’t think “nothing that I can do is going to make an impact,” Valencia said. A letter is “a message of hope” and is “very, very important.”
The ultimate goal is for people in detention to be released. Even if that might seem like a long shot these days, “we need to keep trying,” Valencia said. "We need to keep doing the work that we do” and be present for families and those who are being held.
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