At a vigil in Edgartown’s Memorial Park for those held in detention after migrating to the United States, Vineyard resident Kathy Laskowski read the poem famously mounted at the Statue of Liberty. The New Colossus was written by Emma Lazarus in 1883.

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles…

Rev. Chip Seadale, rector of St. Andrew's Church in Edgartown. — Mark Alan Lovewell

As the sun set, about 100 people lit another flame and passed the light from one candle to the next. Hundreds of similar gatherings were held across the country and were called Lights for Liberty: A Vigil to End Human Concentration Camps. The Vineyard vigil was organized by Indivisible Martha’s Vineyard.

The Rev. Vincent G. (Chip) Seadale, rector of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, led the group in prayer. The mood at the vigil was quiet, but those who gathered expressed passionate disapproval of existing border policies.

Kris McDonald of Vineyard Haven said her outrage spurred her to attend.

“Especially separating children from their parents,” she said. “I can’t imagine any crueler action you could take. It is a policy of extreme cruelty.”

Sarah Kuh held a candle in a glass brought from home. She called policies of detention and separation “extreme inhumanity.”

“The fact that that’s sanctioned and sponsored is deeply disturbing,” she said. “People of conscience need to be present and making their thoughts and feelings known that it is not okay to put anyone in a cage — let alone small children. It’s not okay to separate families. Our immigration system had a process to allow people to seek asylum through the courts and that system is broken.”

Many said they felt compelled to take part due to their outrage over the government policy of separating families and putting children in cages. — Mark Alan Lovewell

Oak Bluffs summer resident Barbara Phillips expressed similar sentiments as she lit her candle in the flame of another.

“I came because I needed to do something to register my disgust with what this administration has done to our country, engaging our country in the torture of children,” she said.

A brief downpour did not deter the circle of people. They shared umbrellas and crowded beneath the trees until it passed. The sound of Friday night traffic encircling the park did not penetrate the solemn mood either.

Erich Luening, who’s grandfather Eugene was among those who famously marched in Selma, Ala., performed the civil rights song Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around.

To close the vigil, organizer Carla Cooper asked for a moment of silence for those who have died in detention and those detained. The group tightened, forming an unbroken circle of candlelight, one reminiscent of Ms. Lazarus’s final lines:

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!