(RNS) — On Sunday (July 20), a group of more than two dozen motorcyclists, including Miami’s Catholic Archbishop Thomas Wenski, rode to “Alligator Alcatraz,” the Florida state immigration detention center in the wetlands of the Everglades, to pray the rosary.
The riders were members of the Knights on Bikes in Florida, a chapter of Knights on Bikes, an international fraternal organization of the Knights of Columbus. The Florida group has said the rosary outside prisons on several rides over the years, and Wenski, a rider himself and the chaplain for the international organization, suggested the stop at “Alligator Alcatraz.”
At least 700 people have been detained or scheduled to be sent to “Alligator Alcatraz,” which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration ordered built in eight days as a “makeshift detention space.” It is expected to hold up to 5,000 people and cost Florida $450 million to operate for a year. Migrants, former guards and Democratic lawmakers have raised safety concerns about the facility, including lack of water, leaking tents and swarming mosquitoes.
Despite extensive attempts to obtain approval to say Mass in the detention center, Wenski told Religion News Service the archdiocese had not been able to provide pastoral care for the detained migrants.
“You can’t make America great by making America mean,” said Wenski.
Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami, right, and Knights on Bikes pray the rosary for detainees at the entrance to “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades, July 20, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski)
In a statement earlier this month, Wenski raised concerns about “intentionally provocative” rhetoric around the detention facility and safety issues with the location and precariousness of the center.
“Common decency requires that we remember the individuals being detained are fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters of distressed relatives,” Wenski wrote. “It is unbecoming of public officials and corrosive of the common good to speak of the deterrence value of ‘alligators and pythons’ at the Collier-Dade facility.”
Wenski told RNS that the deacon in charge of the archdiocese’s prison ministry, Edgardo Farías, had earlier traveled to the detention facility’s gates to request access, and the Florida Catholic Conference director, Michael Sheedy, had made outreach attempts to DeSantis’ office.
The archbishop added that U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, a Republican who represents the Everglades as part of his congressional district, had called the Florida secretary of state’s office and was told pastoral access was a federal issue, even though, Wenski said, “The people on the federal side had told us it’s a state issue.”
Throughout his ecclesial career, Wenski said, he had faced roadblocks to saying Mass in prisons and detention facilities. Prison officials have objected to wine being brought in for Mass or have cited overcrowding. In the past, he said, he had been able to work through these issues.
When his priest was unable to enter the Krome Detention Center to say Mass during Lent this year, Wenski asked Gimenez to make some calls, and the archbishop was able to celebrate two small Easter Masses at the facility. “Overcrowding is not an excuse not to have Mass. The solution is not to eliminate Mass but to eliminate the overcrowding,” Wenski said.
Knights on Bikes pray the rosary for detainees at the entrance to “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades, July 20, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski)
Outside “Alligator Alcatraz,” Wenski, wearing a motorcycle jacket with patches that said “World Wide Arch Bishop” and “Ecclesiastical Province of Miami,” led the Knights on Bikes in the rosary and then blessed a highway patrol officer who had blocked their entry to the detention center.
Last month, Wenski rode his motorcycle 300 miles, from Miami to St. Augustine, Florida, for an international Knights on Bikes rally. Wenski, 74, said he has been riding a motorcycle since turning 50.
“ Motorcycles really help you pray a lot because there are a lot of crazy drivers out there,” he said. “ You have to be asking the Lord to send his angels to watch over you.”
The Knights on Bikes have also provided the archbishop a place to meet a “great bunch of guys” and “clear the cobwebs from my mind,” said Wenski.
Off the motorcycle, Wenski continues to advocate for immigration reform, including in conversations with lawmakers. He believes Congress should create a pathway to green cards for people in the country without legal status by updating the immigration registry process.
Currently, immigrants who have been in the U.S. since before Jan. 1, 1972, can apply for a green card, or permanent residency, even if they have entered the country without legal status. Wenski advocates changing that date to 2015 or 2018, which would allow many immigrants to legalize their status, but he said one of his interlocutors on the issue, South Florida U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar, told him the idea would not have a chance in Congress.
Wenski argues that immigration reform is necessary for President Donald Trump to fulfill his promises on the economy. “You’re not gonna have the most robust economy ever without taking into account the contribution of the labor of immigrants,” Wenski said.
