June 20, is World Refugee Day, and protesters gathered in the hot Texas sun Saturday with a message for President Obama.
"Close down T. Don Hutto!" they chanted.
The demonstraters called for the president to shut down the detention center, where refugees, including children, are held.
"President Obama promised change we need, and we're saying this is change we need now," rally organizer Jay Johnson-Castro said. "On U.S. soil, deep in the heart of Texas, we're imprisoning children."
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T. Don Hutto Rally
News 8's Russell Wilde tells us why demonstrators want T. Don. Hutto shut down and why officials say it keeps families together
 
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St. Andrew's Presbyterian church Minister Jim Rigby spoke at the rally, calling for action to release refugee children from the detention center.
"And what we see over there is just a surface expression of sickness that runs through the blood stream of our entire culture," Rigby said.
Rigby asked the crowd to remember the people being held in the facility are part of the human family.
"Immigration has a lot of challenges to it. I think we all realize there are situations we need to confront, but that these people, particularly the children, shouldn't be bearing the brunt of that," Rigby said.
Immigration officials said the center allows them to enforce the law while allowing families to stay together.
Protesters said the people being held in the center are refugees and should not be held in a former prison.
"A message to our president to free the children. It's a message to our president to do it now," Johnson-Castro said. "That's a change we can believe in. It's a change we need."
