More than 600 join procession for migrants in downtown San Diego

More than 600 people walked over two miles Sunday afternoon in a procession of hope for migrants and refugees that took them to St. Joseph’s Cathedral in downtown San Diego.

The participation was easily twice the number expected, said the Rev. Scott Santarosa, pastor of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish church in Barrio Logan, where the procession began at the conclusion of the 12:30 p.m. Mass.

“This is us at our very best,” said Santarosa, who helped organize the event. “The church is not just a building. It’s the people. This is our parish.”

The parish on Kearny Avenue holds seven Masses each weekend and sees as many as 2,300 people come through its doors on a given Sunday, he said.

Some people took part in the walk to show their support for immigrants, and others did it more as an act of piety for their faith. Catholics who completed the walk and entered the door of St. Joseph’s on Third Avenue earned an indulgence, a small measure of grace or mercy for past sins. 

For Brian Talavera, 18, the walk was both a social statement and a church commitment.

“Both my parents are immigrants, so it’s a deep issue for me,” Talavera said. His parents came to California from the state of Guerrero in Mexico.

His mother told him about the procession, and he decided to walk with her. A recent high school graduate, he’s now in a trade school learning to be an auto technician and he’s growing more active in the church.

“I’m really enjoying this,” he said. “It’s a new experience.”

The procession included priests and altar servers in robes, one swinging a metal pot of burning incense. A musician played an amplified guitar and led the crowd in hymns in Spanish and English. Many people walked together as families, and a few pushed strollers or carried small children.

Among the participants were San Diego County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre, state Assemblymember David Alvarez and National City Councilmember Jose Rodriguez.

Aguirre, an advocate for immigrant rights, briefly answered a few questions before the procession began and talked about efforts to protect immigrant children.

Sam Schultz said he and his wife drove from the small East County town of Jacumba Hot Springs to take part in the event.

“I want to support these people in whatever they can do to help (immigrants) who are here already,” Schultz said. “The rights and wrongs of this are really hard to parse. I just feel that you have to help people in need.”

At the conclusion of the walk, the Rev. Brad Mills, parochial vicar of Our Lady of Guadalupe, said a prayer and asked the crowd to remember a message Pope Leo XIV delivered over the weekend at the Vatican for the 2025 World Day of Migrants and Refugees.

“Many migrants, refugees and displaced persons are privileged witnesses of hope,” the pope said in his Vatican message. “Their courage and tenacity bear heroic testimony to a faith that sees beyond what our eyes can see and gives them the strength to defy death on the various contemporary migration routes.”

Rogelio Martinez, a church member who helped oversee the march, said it was peaceful but there were a couple of incidents. One person tripped and injured an ankle, and another person became too tired to continue and called for a ride.

“It was beautiful,” he said, other than the incidents, and he really felt like “God is with us.”

“Everybody was positive,” said Leoncio Cuellar, another volunteer. “It was great.”