PRESS RELEASE / MEDIA ADVISORY
August 11, 2026 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Louisiana Faith Leaders to Gather in Alexandria for Immigration Press Conference and Public Prayer
Faith leaders will call for humane immigration policies and urge local officials to halt plans for a family and child detention center at England Airpark
Media Contact:
Pastor Leigh Rachal, Executive Director
Louisiana Interchurch Conference
director@lainterchurch.org
225-500-0748
ALEXANDRIA, La. — Faith leaders from across Louisiana will gather Saturday, August 22, 2026 for a press conference followed by an interfaith Service of Public Prayer & Witness.
The gathering will focus on the treatment of immigrant neighbors across Louisiana and growing concerns about immigration enforcement, detention, family separation, and due process. It also comes as plans move forward for a facility at England Airpark intended to detain immigrant families and children.
Faith leaders will call on public officials at every level to protect human dignity, family unity, due process, and the safety of immigrant communities. They will also urge leadership connected with England Airpark to cancel agreements supporting ICE detention operations and halt development of the proposed family and child detention center.
“Our faith calls us to protect the dignity of our immigrant neighbors,” said Pastor Leigh Rachal, Executive Director of the Louisiana Interchurch Conference. “Scripture calls us again and again to love our neighbor and care for the foreigner among us. Here in Alexandria, that means asking leaders to stop plans to detain families and children. Across Louisiana, it means calling for immigration policies rooted in compassion, due process, and care for our neighbors.”
WHAT: Immigration Press Conference and Public Prayer
WHEN: Saturday, August 22, 2026, at 4 p.m CT
WHERE: Horseshoe Dr. United Methodist Church, 1600 Horseshoe Dr., Alexandria,
MORE INFORMATION:
During the press conference, faith leaders from multiple religious traditions will speak and portions of the Louisiana Interfaith Immigration Statement will be read. The statement calls for our immigration system to be built around fairness, freedom, opportunity, and due process, but our current system isn’t set up to uphold these values. Instead, people are deprived of their liberty, separated from their loved ones, and put at risk in ICE custody. It also calls people of faith and goodwill to offer compassion, hospitality, and humanitarian support to immigrant neighbors and declares to immigrant communities: “You are not alone.”
Following the press conference, participants will gather for an interfaith Service of Public Prayer & Witness as part of the Louisiana Interchurch Conference’s Love Your Immigrant Neighbor initiative. The service will include prayer for immigrant families and communities, those who have been detained or separated from loved ones, public officials and decision-makers, and all those seeking just and humane responses to immigration.
Clergy and faith leaders of many traditions, as well as members of the wider community, are invited to attend.
Those interested in participating in the event on August 22, 2026 are encouraged to register in advance: https://bit.ly/LICAlexandria.
More information about Love Your Immigrant Neighbor is available at https://www.lainterchurch.org/lyin
The Louisiana Interfaith Immigration Statement is available at https://www.lainterchurch.org/dec-2025-interfaith-immigration-statement