As the sun dipped low outside the Otay Mesa Detention Center, Pedro Rios and Adriana Jasso laid out the cempasúchil flowers carefully, the brilliant orange petals staining their fingertips.
Nearby, organizers and artists had built a ceremonial altar decorated with candles, calaveras and monarch butterflies.
“We’re breaking up the cempasúchil flower, the marigolds and creating a path,” Rios said, cradling the flowers in his arms. “To the ceremonial altar that recognizes them as human beings.”…