Activists Launch “Freedom Ride” Caravan In Defense Of Immigrant Rights

Dozens of artists, activists, and faith leaders set off on a “Freedom Ride” caravan in response to the Trump administration’s broad attack on democratic rights

By Natalia Marques, Peoples Dispatch

This past weekend, dozens of artists, activists, and faith leaders hit the road with the “Freedom Ride” caravan in response to the Trump administration’s broad attacks on democratic rights, including ICE raids that have sparked nationwide protests.

The caravan departed on Sunday, June 8, from the controversial Delaney Hall ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey, and has since made stops in Washington, DC as well as Durham and Charlotte in North Carolina.

In the next few days, the caravan convened by IFCO/Pastors for Peace, the Interfaith Center of New York, the People’s Forum, and the Riverside Church, will continue onto Atlanta, Georgia and Birmingham, Alabama, to finally end up in Jena, Louisiana – outside of the ICE detention facility where pro-Palestine activist and Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil has been detained for months.

Through the caravan, participants aim to draw attention to political demands which include permanent protections for undocumented immigrants, expansion of the social safety net with programs such as Medicaid/Medicare and social security for all people in the US, protection of due process and to advocate “for the rights and dignity of every human being.”

Caravan departs from Delaney Hall detention center

The caravan kicked off on Sunday, June 8, with a press conference outside of Delaney Hall in Newark. The detention center opened recently despite being the subject of legal controversy and opposed by a broad coalition of immigrant rights activists and local politicians.

“There is a battle that is happening in this country right now, which is a battle against those who defend life, and those who threaten life,” said IFCO/Pastors for Peace Executive Director, Reverend Claudia De la Cruz. De la Cruz is a longtime political activist, and ran as a socialist during the 2024 US Presidential election against both Trump and Harris. “We are part of the majority of people in this country who stand in defense of humanity.”

“When we talk about the increasing attacks on the immigrant community, this is part of a system. It is part of a system that has been supported by both Democrats and Republicans,” De la Cruz addressed the crowd of activists gathered in front of the Delaney Hall. “We must understand that Trump is the product of the capitalist system in which we live.”

Other leaders in the immigrant rights movement in New Jersey also spoke at the press conference. “Beloveds, this center has gone from 400 beds to 1100 illegally,” said Charlene Walker, the executive director of Faith In New Jersey who has participated in protests against the opening of Delaney Hall. Walker pointed to the detention center behind her, where families were leaving and entering the metal gates in an attempt to see their loved ones detained inside. “This place intends to put everyone that dissents, that uses their voice behind bars, so that we all can be put on a plane and sent elsewhere… while our loved ones in LA are standing up, each of us are taking a moment to stand in rebellion with them.”

Freedom riders journey through the US South

Since Newark, the caravan has traveled to Washington, DC to hear a program of speakers at the historic Metropolitan AME Church, then to Raleigh, North Carolina, to attend a rally calling for the release of then-detained SEIU California union president David Huerta. Huerta was detained while observing an ICE raid in Los Angeles on Friday, June 6, and was released days later on June 9.

Grant Miner, the president of United Auto Workers Local 2710, which represents student workers of Columbia, is a participant in the caravan and spoke at the Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, DC. “This journey, it means a lot to me, because at the end of it is somebody who I organized with, my friend and one of our former union members, Mahmoud Khalil, who has been in prison for some months,” Miner said. Miner himself was expelled from Columbia earlier in the year, along with several other students, for pro-Palestine activism.

The caravan has since stopped in Durham, North Carolina for an exchange with the Union of Southern Service Workers, and in Charlotte, North Carolina to visit the Al Nour Community Center. Later visits will include a town hall meeting at the Park Ave Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, before stopping in Birmingham and finally rural Jena, Louisiana.