On Sunday, activists delivered hundreds of messages of solidarity to mothers at the Berks Family Residential Center in Leesport as part of a Mother’s Day Rally to close the detention center.

The center, which continues to operate even though it’s license was not renewed at the end of January, is subcontracted by ICE from the Berks County Government as one of the three family detention centers in the country. The other two are in Texas.

“As a resident of Berks County, it is unconscionable that the County Commissioners continue to use my tax dollars in an ill-fated attempt to continue operating the inhumane Berks Family Detention Center,” said Adanjesus Marin, state director at Make the Road Pennsylvania. “The detained families have broken no laws, they have followed the rules in applying for asylum from the violence in Central America. The only ones violating the law in this case are the County Commissioners, and ICE. The laws in PA are clear, it is illegal to detain these families.”

Activists from around the country distributed Mother’s Day cards to immigrant mothers at all the detention centers in the country. In 2015, 7,500 cards were created to be distributed.

“Our goal with ‘Mama’s Day’ has always been to highlight mothers who are often invisible in popular representations of motherhood like single moms, queer families, incarcerated parents and immigrant mothers,” said Kalpana Krishnamurthy, Policy Director at Forward Together.