Advocates have been remembering immigrants who’ve died while in federal immigration custody in Día de Muertos vigils across the country. The holiday, known in English as Day of the Dead and widely celebrated both in Latin America and the U.S., is rooted in indigenous traditions of Mesoamerica and honors the memory of loved ones who have died. Altars created as part of the observance commonly feature marigolds, incense, candles, and photographs of the deceased. One such altar was seen outside the privately operated Otay Mesa Detention Facility in California last week, where Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejía had been detained. In May 2020, he was the first immigrant to die of COVID-19 while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. He’d lived in the U.S. for four decades. Read more