Groups to rally at Ga. immigrant detention center

ATLANTA - A coalition of immigrant rights groups plans to hold a vigil, rally and ``funeral procession'' to draw attention to what it says are violations at a southwest Georgia immigration detention center.

Georgia Detention Watch says the events planned for Friday morning are meant to call attention to the treatment of detainees at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin which is located just south of Columbus.

The ``funeral march'' is meant to memorialize Roberto Martinez Medina, a Stewart detainee who died in March, as well as other immigrants nationwide who have died in immigration detention.

A Georgia Bureau of Investigation autopsy showed that Martinez died of myocarditis, an inflammatory heart disease.