Every week, a group of mostly native-born Americans travel from a church in Manhattan to a detention facility in New Jersey.

They call themselves the Sojourners and their mission is to change the immigration detention experience, largely through friendship.

Through the clear security barriers that separate them, the Sojourners, part of the social justice mission at Riverside Church, develop relationships with detainees via simple conversations about life. It’s the group’s simple response to the complex political issue of immigration reform.