- Good evening, everybody. Would you all please mind coming over to the area that's roughly in the line
- between this table and Murth, so we're all closer together. And I think it would be helpful if you're
- not congregating down there by the sidewalk, but kind of stay up close and close together.
- you could come a little bit closer. The nice grassy areas will be really soft on your feet. So please
- come on over. So good evening everybody and welcome.
- I want to welcome all of you who have joined us tonight. You have taken the time to be here rather than
- doing a myriad of other things that you might want to be doing on a Friday night. And I and the ISD
- Taney's are grateful for your presence. The sun has just set and darkness is about to descend on us.
- This is a very appropriate time for a ritual for the ISD Taney's. The ISD Taney's in
- the Miami Correctional Facility in the entire state of Indiana, in the entire country, and even those
- immigrants who have been shipped like cattle to other countries. Before we begin, it's probably a good
- idea to remind us that this is a peaceful, reverent, nonviolent vigil. We believe in a collective approach
- to safety. Let us all be helpful and kind to one another.
- Respect our differences. Let's be aware of our surroundings. And if there's any issues, there are a
- few folks in Orange West that can help you out. This is a country of immigrants. Immigrants have come
- here guided by light and hope to escape persecution, to make a better life for themselves, and to provide
- for a safe and secure future for the children.
- Now many live in fear and fear of ice making arbitrary arrests. For many of our immigrant sisters and
- brothers, darkness has descended on them. They have been arrested. They have had their loved ones arrested.
- Their families have been torn apart. Their livelihood is in danger if not destroyed. So we gather here
- to pray for all the victims of ice, to mourn with all the families,
- who had in our having their lives and their livelihoods appended, and to express our strong and unwavering
- support for all our sisters and brothers whose lives have been impacted by ICE. We will start with a
- simple song. The good folks from Singing Resistance will teach us a simple song, and all of us can join
- in. I cannot carry a tune, but even I will join in.
- That's because we all carry it together. So nobody has to carry it. This is a song called We Belong
- to Each Other by Annie Schlafer. So I'll sing a phrase and then you repeat. Everyone, oh everyone, oh
- everyone of these people are ours. Your turn. Everyone, oh everyone, oh everyone of these people are
- ours. My turn.
- Just like we are theirs. Just like we are theirs. And we belong to them. And they belong to us. There you go.
- are ours. Everyone, oh everyone, oh everyone of these people are ours. Just like we are theirs. Just
- like we are theirs. And we belong
- And we belong to them. And they belong to us. I'm going to sing the whole thing. And if you want to
- listen the first time to the whole thing, we've got the words up here too. And then we're going to split
- into two groups and do this in a round. And it's not just because it sounds cool and it's fun to do,
- but it creates these beautiful harmonies so that we sing these words and we really make these words real.
- and we create beautiful harmony together. So this song is a metaphor for everything that we're doing
- here. So here's how the whole thing goes. Everyone, oh everyone, oh everyone, oh these people are ours
- just like we are theirs.
- Just like we are theirs. And we belong to them and they belong to us. Let's see if we can do it once.
- I'm going to put this mic down because it's about all of us together. So let's just listen to us together. Ready?
- Stand in solidarity with our immigrant sisters and brothers. It's appropriate to keep in mind what they
- might feel like to have to flee their country, to lose their home, to lose their country. And Lenzen's
- going to read a poem about loss of country for us.
- The name of this poem is I Was in a Hurry by Junya Mikhail. Yesterday I lost a country. I was in a hurry
- and didn't notice when it fell from me like a broken branch from a forgetful tree. Please, if anyone
- passes by and stumbles across it, perhaps in a suitcase open to the sky,
- or engraved on a rock like a gaping wound, or wrapped in the blankets of immigrants, or canceled like
- a losing lottery ticket, or helplessly forgotten in purgatory, or rushing forward without a goal like
- the questions of children, or rising with the smoke of war, or rolling in a helmet on the sand,
- or stolen in Alibaba's jar, or disguised in the uniform of a policeman who stirred up the prisoners
- and then fled, or squatting in the mind of a woman who tries to smile, or scattered like the dreams
- of new immigrants in America. If anyone stumbles across it, return it to me, please. Please return it, sir.
- Please return it, madam. It is my country. I was in a hurry when I lost it yesterday. Thanks, Pete.
- Please join us in the next song, which you can find on your song sheet that was handed out. The song
- comes from my personal faith tradition.
- There's a word that shows up that might not be part of your faith tradition called the Christ. So whenever
- you see the word the Christ, please feel free to replace the word love with that word. I would not want
- anybody to feel alienated a part of it or marginalized because we come from different faith traditions.
- And Pastor Adrian will lead us off into the song. I've heard her before in church.
- she can carry it to and it leaves us off pretty well. You should be afraid about asking a soprano to
- lead music. Let us sing together. Build a longer table, not a higher wall. Feeding the soup of worth,
- making room for all. We sing together.
- Christ breaks walls to pieces, walls divisions end. Build a safer refuge, not a larger jail. Where the
- weak find shelter, mercy will not fail.
- justice is denied Christ will
- Thank you. Vicki Balansky will read a litany that is placed.
- we bring before you all who work for the fullness of justice, all who long for the widening of welcome,
- to which your gospel calls us. We pray. Open hearts, open arms, open doors in welcome. Displaced God,
- born in flight to parents anxious and weary, born anew in those who flee oppression,
- leaving home and loved ones behind, and staking their lives on the hope of abundant life. We pray. Open
- hearts, open arms, open doors and welcome. Journeying God, turned away over and over again by our world's
- collective fear of the stranger, we pray. Open hearts, open arms, open doors and welcome. Uprooted God,
- suspended in the endless uncertainty that is the daily life of the migrant, we pray. Open hearts,
- open arms, open doors and welcome. Waiting, God, waiting today with all who suffer separation from home
- and the familiar, waiting for safe return, waiting for war's end, waiting for justice to be restored,
- we pray. Open hearts, open arms,
- Open doors and welcome. God of all people, stir us to holy anger over the wounds of our world. Move
- us to action for justice until the fullness of welcome is fulfilled in our midst. And the problems that
- cause migration, the poverty, the fear, and the suffering, are confronted by all people of goodwill
- and transformed by the power of compassion. Amen.
- Two men have died this year in ICE detention at the Miami Correctional Facility. You, Loreen, will now
- hear the story of one of those men who died. Lorth Sim, a 59-year-old Cambodian national,
- who died on February 16th of this year. Officials attributed his death primarily to cardiovascular disease
- and diabetes. Born in 1966, Lorath was nine years old when the murderous Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia.
- He fled to the United States and arrived as a refugee in 1983.
- He was granted permanent residency status in 1986, which he later lost for minor criminal convictions.
- He was arrested in Boston in December, 2025 and shipped 900 miles to the Miami Correctional Facility
- right here in Bunker Hill, Indiana. He died in that facility on February the 16th.
- 2026. We light one candle for the world since
- You will not hear the story of the second man who died in the Miami ICE detention facility. Hello, everyone.
- Thanks for being here tonight. I want to share a brief story about Tuan Van Gough. He was a 55-year-old
- Vietnamese man who died this spring on April 1
- He was found unresponsive in his cell. He came to this country in 1990 as a 29-year-old person. He came
- through a visa program established for Vietnamese children of American fathers. After arriving here,
- he did serve some time in prison for a misdemeanor drug charge in a DUI.
- ICE claimed that Boo had committed other crimes, but these crimes were contested. He was detained in
- Philadelphia during a routine immigration check-in last August. After his detention, his wife suffered
- a stroke. Boo continued to suffer at the Miami Correctional Facility from asthma and hypertension until
- He was found out this spring.
- Let us offer prayer for the men and women who have died in ice custody. Blessed are you who are the
- keeper of the book of life. Today we remember the two men who have died in ice custody in the Miami
- Correctional Facility, Laura Sim and Tuan Van Bui. Each one of you has a candle. I'm going to bring
- one light to one or two people on my right.
- and perhaps he can pass the candle through the rest of the crowd to bring some light to this darkness.
- The news of their death has filled us with grief. We know that you almost die, but these deaths especially
- fill us with sadness and grief. We remember in our prayers our friends and families who surely are lost
- in sorrow at this time. May you best remember Lord Sam and Tuan Van Bui by being grateful for life today
- and by loving our neighbor
- our neighbors, with all our hearts, with all our strengths, and all our minds. Eternal rest to Lorsam
- and Tanman Bui, and divine consolation to the families. While the lights are going through, Pastor Adrian
- will give us a reflection on the life that these guys
- the detainees are facing and how it might relate to that. My spouse is a public speaking teacher and
- he tells me that early on in his speech you're supposed to like give your credentials right like why
- should anyone listen to me and
- Ever since Gerhard asked me to do this, I have been convincing myself that I have none. I know all the
- reasons why I am busy or afraid, why I seem to find myself standing on the fringes of people and groups
- that are doing this good work. But you asked me.
- So then I thought about, when I am an expert at, I thought, you know what, I will bring a Bible study,
- I will tell you about all the things that the Bible has to say about immigration, or some piece of it.
- You know, like Moses, who got in an altercation trying to defend a fellow Israelite, accidentally killed
- an Egyptian and had to flee, or Jesus, who with his family and his infancy had to flee their home for
- Egypt because a murderous tyrant was after them.
- And of course, the Bible by sheer volume says more about welcoming the stranger or caring for the poor
- and marginalized than just about anything else. But I realized that all of you who are here know that,
- that you're angry and that you want things to be different. Those are my credentials.
- I'm angry and I want things to be different. In the church today, we celebrate, I mean on this day,
- August 28th, it is the feast of Saint Augustine. Saint Augustine was a fourth century speech teacher
- who was a reluctant convert to Christianity but became one of the fathers of Western theology and all
- of us have to contend with him.
- Here are these great big tomes I'm sure someone has read. I have not. But one of the things that he
- says that resonates deeply with me is that hope has two beautiful daughters, anger at the way things
- are, and courage that they don't remain as they are. And I know a lot of people are angry. They come
- to me in my office and say, I'm really angry and I don't think I should be. I don't think that's what
- a good person does.
- I've never found it particularly helpful to try to become un-angry. Feelings come and feelings go. But
- what we can do is pay attention to our anger. We are angry because our neighbors are being taken away
- from us. Our anger is telling us something important. But anger is not all there is. There is this hope
- that things will be different.
- And that gives us the courage to act. It gives us the courage to stand in vigil, to protest,
- to write letters, to call people to show up in their offices. It gives us the courage to do this very
- basic act, which is to pay attention, to look and not to look away. Because our neighbors are being
- taken from us and they're being put behind walls where we can no longer see them.
- They're being taken to courtrooms where we, most of us, cannot go, put on planes where we cannot follow
- them, and taken to countries our State Department says we should not visit because it is not safe. Tyranny
- thrives on ignorance. Tyranny is spread by division. Tyranny feeds on the marginalized.
- And we can do this courageous act of paying attention, of bearing witness to what is happening, and
- doing the things that make what is happening no longer this way. And we do it collectively, because
- when we are collectively angry, when we are collectively courageous, then we have hope that things will
- not remain this way. So let us tonight remember those
- who have been taken from us. Remember those who have died and let us pray for the courage that things
- will not remain this way any longer. Thank you. In my book, those words are credential
- The next speaker is Miguel Avila. Miguel will tell us about his own personal experience with ice.
- such a blessing to see so many wise people here together taking part of this event. Thank you for being
- here today. Before I begin, I want to assure all of you that I am in full possession of my mental faculties.
- I am very healthy. I have no intentions of committing suicide or harm myself in any way, shape or form.
- I love my family and I have no desire to disappear.
- I am seeing this just in case something happens to be all of a sudden. With that being said, let's move
- on and my God have mercy on me. My name is Miguel Avila. I am originally from Mexico and have been living
- in this country for more than 22 years. I am a typical neighbor next door. I am a husband. I am a father.
- I am a friend. I am a member of the community just like any of you here.
- I am an advocate of fight for immigrants' rights, but I specifically fight for the rights of immigrants
- for our immigrants' brothers and sisters in detention. When I visit those facilities, I do it along
- with a group of very brave and dedicated volunteers that cares for the well-being of detained immigrants.
- The organization name is Indiana Aid Assistance to Immigrants in Detention.
- We observe the difficulties and emotional challenges faced by them, but only I can feel their pain and
- sorrow in a particular way only I can feel. I can feel the impact and the gradual decline in morale
- over time. And trust me, when I say that I understand the pain in a way most people can't, it's because
- I have experienced that pain myself firsthand.
- I had trouble that pat myself. Almost two years ago, I got released from one of the worst immigration
- detention centers, where I spent a period a little over nine months in detention. I was granted bond,
- and they still hold me 30 more days just because. Totally isolated from the senior world, with no sunlight,
- no fresh air, no family visits,
- Not knowing my whereabouts, losing track of time, not knowing if it's day or night. Living in some of
- the worst conditions a human being could ever experience. But the worst, the worst part is not what
- we go through in there. The worst part is what our broken families has to face while we're incarcerated.
- The tremendous stress label my wife and family had to deal with
- and the psychological trauma caused to my children. It's not something that can be easily handled. It
- has caused loss and damage, and my family, my family's son would never be the same again. After experiencing
- the hardship and challenges of the broken immigration system, I decided to turn adversity into advocacy.
- I made a conscious decision to dedicate myself to activism and advocacy for immigrants' rights. This
- journey began following my release, as I saw ways to support others who are facing similar struggles.
- Today, when I'm not practicing my musical skills or writing poetry, I dedicate myself most of my time
- visiting individuals held on the rights custody. My own experience
- after falling on their broken immigration system, has provided me with a unique perspective, allowing
- me to understand their suffering in a much deeper level. This shared pain, along with my own, has brought
- me to a point where turning back is no longer an option. The empathy I feel for those detainees compels
- me to continue my advocacy standing firmly alongside them
- in their struggle for dignity and justice. These detention centers, they were built to challenge even
- the most resilient human will. Although they tried to break me physically, I grew stronger. Although
- they tried to defeat me mentally, I became smarter. Their efforts to undermine my morals only made me wiser,
- And when they tried to wake me spiritually, I discovered that God had always been by my side. And that's
- the reason why I decided to fight back in a more intelligent way. And just like that, poetry became
- my language, music became my battle cry, and activism shifted shape into my spirit and shield to safeguard
- the most vulnerable on the battlefield.
- For my visit days, I walked in gloomy halls. I cannot ignore the haunting silence and the overwhelming
- sense of despair that fills the air. Each visit reminds me that these are not just statistics. They
- are somebody's brothers and sisters, somebody's fathers and mothers. They are somebody's sons and daughters.
- And they just hang and embrace themselves
- for the loved ones left behind. The overcrowded conditions and the absence of dignity are daily realities
- for so many. Bearing witness to the suffering, all his strength as my resolve to fight for human treatment
- and policies that respect the basic rights for every person, regardless of the immigration status. These
- motivate me to stand by themselves, offer support,
- and work tirelessly to champion the rights within our community. We know by fact that over 75% of the
- people detained on the rights custody, over 75% of the people detained on the rights custody has no
- criminal record at all. Most of them, they were illegally and unconstitutionally arrested, being racially
- profiled just for not having a valid driver's license,
- just being targeted for the skin color, or simply for being unable to speak fluid English, or having
- a stroke accent. Here in Indiana, we have the Miami Correctional Facility, which happens to be a maximum
- secure prison. The one that they have absolutely nicknamed the Speed Slammer. But I give it a different
- name. I call it the Modern Asmitch. Because that's what they're doing.
- There's nothing else but modern concentration camps. In there, they have almost 800 that they need already
- under ice custody, but they have conditioned the place for 1,000 beds capacity. This is without counting
- the other six detention centers all over Indiana. Now, I want you all to think for a moment and to please
- keep in mind, every single bed in detention represents a broken family.
- Every single belly detention represents pain and suffering of thousands of family members in crisis.
- So this is what the people needs to get off the comfort zone. Because this is nothing new. This situation
- got out of control a long time ago. People need to understand that simply by doing nothing, they contribute
- to the system to keep pulling us over and over. So it is time to raise awareness.
- It's time to raise our voices. We need to block and prevent future detention facilities from opening
- in the state of Indiana, and not just the state of Indiana. Let's spread the voice around all over the
- entire country. Let's keep praying for our brothers and sisters in detention, but we also need to take
- action as well. We need to help each other. Only the people can save the people.
- So please help us to keep helping those in need. This is the moment. Brothers and sisters, love your
- neighbor as you love yourselves. May God bless you all. Thank you.
- We will now, all of us, read the names of the IAS detainees that may enter the facility. Each one of
- you, when you walk in, you receive the packet. There are one or two index cards. Each index card has
- five names on it. Some of these names, how to pronounce them might not be familiar to you, but you all
- do our best
- to read all those names. So please, if you have those cards in front of you, join me as I read from
- my index cards, and each one of us will have five names or 10 names to read. Ayelet Bektanovich Mikivai,
- Samuel Mandolo, Francis Dunford,
- Marius Naranjo Pico, Daniel Nava Puke, Ricardo Ponciano Felix, Kevin Portillo Vazquez, Ivonelle Puseli,
- Lydon Pradenovich, Robinson Prunier.
- Thank you. Andrew Gabriel and singing your systems will help us lead that song again to remind us that
- we are all together. Can we come in closer so we can all hear each other's voices? All this space is
- open right here.
- Just like we
- chosen to read the names of the detainees simultaneously to shed some light and to reflect on their
- situations. As we read their names, the names were blurred, jumbled, unintelligible. These detainees
- have been robbed of their individuality. They have been denied even their names.
- They have been deprived of their dignity. They have been stripped of their humanity. How do we react
- to all the suffering, suffering inflicted by men and women on their fellow brothers and sisters? Anger,
- sadness, despair.
- All of these emotions are certainly understandable, but there's hope. This weekend, starting today till
- Sunday, there are over 60 vigils, demonstrations, marches, teach-ins, all across the state, from Zara
- Ho to Richmond, from South Bend, all the way down to Jefferson County.
- to all these people of Goodwill standing up and saying no to ICE, no to deportations, no to cruelty.
- And you all are saying yes to our immigrant sisters and brothers, yes to dignity, yes to love. And we
- can hope for a more human and humane future.
- And you have one more song to sing, which is, in my mind, one of the most hopeful tunes. I know it's
- called The Canticle of the Turning. And you can find it on your song sheet on the back side.
- My soul cries out with a joyful shout that the God of my heart is great. And my spirit sings of the
- wondrous things that you bring to the ones who wait. You placed your sight on your servant's flight
- and my weakness you did not spurn.
- Shall my name be blessed? Could the world be about to turn? My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
- Let the fires of your justice burn. Wipe away all tears for the God draws near and the world is about to turn.
- The King.
- the nation.
- As we go forth from here in a little bit, I ask you to consider prayerfully what you can do to help
- those least of our brothers and sisters who are detained by ICE and those who live in fear of ICE. You
- have five or 10 names on the index card on your package. Please feel free to take them home with you.
- You are invited to pray for those detainees.
- or to think of any other act of kindness or solidarity for these people. If you want to write a letter
- to those persons on your card, there's an instruction sheet attached to the package that you got. Please
- follow these instructions meticulously. You also have on that sheet information for our contact information
- for our elected officials. I think they need to hear from all of us.
- They feel free to contact them and demand that they stop their cruelty. If you look around you, there
- are various places where there's a QR code. There's one sign over there by the speaker. There are a
- few others around here. If you take your phone and zero in on the QR code, it will say immediately if
- you want to an email to the Department of Correction Commissioner to end these cruel practices.
- We'll sing one more time, we belong to each other. And after that song, there will be a blessing for
- the Itagans.
- Can I go forward from this place without pronouncing blessings? A blessing for the ICE detainees in
- the Miami facility and in all ICE facilities across the country. May you be peaceful. May you be safe.
- May you be free from suffering.
- our immigrant brothers and sisters. May you be peaceful. May you be safe. May you be free from suffering.
- For all of you, assembled here tonight, and all those people of goodwill who hold our immigrant brothers
- in their hearts, as you leave this place, may you be peaceful,
- May you be safe. May you be free from suffering. And for all men and women who are working on border
- security, you might be thinking of them as our adversaries, our enemies, but we're called to love them
- as well. So there's a blessing for them.
- May you be peaceful. May you be safe. May you be free from suffering. Thank you all for coming.
- It is a joy. It gives me hope that so many of you have come here tonight. Thank you. Thank you.