Religious leaders, laypeople pray for detainees, others at Prairieland Detention Facility

Where a grassy field met a gravel parking lot, steps away from the federal Prairieland Detention Facility in Alvarado, a group of religious leaders and laypeople of different faiths gathered Wednesday morning for a shared act — prayer. 

Pastors, both actively leading a congregation and retired, arrived dressed in colorful stoles. Some wore clerical collars; others wore yarmulkes in the Jewish tradition. Laypeople from different religions sported brimmed hats, shading them from the sun that occasionally peered through the clouds. 

On the other side of the fence, about 900 people are detained in the Alvarado facility as of April 2026, according to the Texas Immigration Data Portal. 

As the group bowed their heads, their voices blended in the same prayer. 

“We pray that each person incarcerated here would be treated with dignity, respect and compassion and remembered as someone created in the image of God.” 

Over 30 religious leaders and laypeople from Tarrant County places of worship — and beyond — gathered for the prayer vigil and to show solidarity with detainees and their families. The Oct. 14 event was the group’s second vigil. 

Peter Nelson, director of community ministries and partnerships at Fort Worth’s Broadway Baptist Church, was an organizer of the vigil.

The impetus for the monthly vigil came from the church’s partnership with FaithWorks, a nonprofit that offers mission trips to serve at shelters, churches and ministries in cities along the Texas-Mexico border.

Nelson said organizers realized there were people who couldn’t take time off for a multiday mission trip but wanted to get involved. The prayer vigils provided a local way to show support for people who have been detained or had family members deported. 

“We were really kind of confronted with the fact that you don’t have to go all the way down to the Mexico-U.S. border to see what’s happening (regarding) the detention and deportation crisis,” Nelson said, “It’s happening right here in our backyard.” 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents confirmed their presence in Fort Worth in late August after reports of ICE activity in the Riverside neighborhood circulated on social media. 

Sheri Allen, a cantor and co-founder of the Fort Worth Jewish congregation Makom Shelanu, led a prayer for mental and emotional health. 

Cars entering and leaving the detention center drove past Allen and the others in prayer. She said after the prayer that she hopes that the group’s presence will show detainees and their families that there are people who care about them. 

“Even though we’re so far removed from where they actually are, them knowing that we’re here and that we have not forgotten them, I hope that does a lot to strengthen their growth and keep them going,” Allen said.

Organizers made contact with detainees ahead of time to let them know a group was coming to pray over them, Nelson said at the vigil.

The vigil included a prayer for various groups involved in immigration activity: Attorneys, judges and immigration officials involved in detainee’s cases. Chaplains and volunteers who serve inside the facility. Detention center staff, ICE officers and other ICE employees. And for leaders and lawmakers who shape the U.S. immigration and detention system. 

Scriptures relating to the prayers were read, and the group sang songs, including “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers. 

One of those singing along was Karen Calafat, rector of St. Luke’s in the Meadow Episcopal Church in Fort Worth. She said the vigil spoke to a part of the Episcopal Church’s Baptismal Covenant, calling Christians to respect the dignity of every human being. 

“I fear the dignity of people is not being respected in ICE treatment. So showing up and standing up in solidarity with people who are potentially not being treated fairly or with dignity is an important testimony to my own faith,” Calafat said. 

After the final prayer, attendees sang “We Shall Overcome” by Pete Seeger. The group plans to return at 9 a.m. on Nov. 18. 

Marissa Greene is the faith and fellowships editor at the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at [email protected].

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