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Vigil attendees in Athens, Ga., hold lit candles and sing songs Feb. 22, 2026, as speakers read the names of people who have died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention.
Credit: Chase McGee / GPB News
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Athens faith groups hold a candlelight vigil for community members in ICE detention
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On Sunday night, a coalition of religious groups held a candlelight vigil in front of a federal courthouse in Athens, to remember people detained by ICE. GPB's Chase McGee reports.
ATHENS, Ga. — On Sunday night, a coalition of religious groups held a candlelight vigil in front of a federal courthouse in Athens to remember people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
About 35 miles north of a planned ICE detention center in Social Circle, vigil attendees lit candles, sang songs, and listened as the names of people who’ve died in ICE detention were read.
JoBeth Allen is a member of a local United Methodist church. She spoke about the mother of a 7-month-old infant she worked with who was put in detention after a car accident.
"Her husband paid her bond, but it was too late," she said. "ICE took her to Stewart Detention Center, then deported her to Guatemala. She is frantic to be reunited with her baby to be able to breastfeed her child."
Speakers read passages from the Bible, the Torah, the Quran and other holy books, advocating for compassion for strangers and hospitality for immigrants.
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