Tensions over the federal government\u2019s immigration agenda erupted into violence 25 miles from downtown Fort Worth last week.<\/p>\n
A group of 10 to 12 people ambushed corrections and police officers outside the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado on July 4, creating a distraction with fireworks and graffiti before firing upon officers with semiautomatic rifles.<\/p>\n
One Alvarado police officer was hit in the neck. He was airlifted to a Fort Worth hospital, where he was treated and released. Federal prosecutors on Monday charged 11 suspects with attempted murder<\/a> and weapons charges.<\/p>\n Before the attack, many in the area were likely completely unaware that the facility was so close to home. When did Pairieland open, how many detainees is it built to hold, and what are the conditions like inside?<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what we know about the ICE detention center in Fort Worth\u2019s backyard.<\/p>\n Prairieland opened at the beginning of the first Trump administration<\/p>\n Prairieland opened in 2017. It was built to house 707 detainees, according to the Dallas-based immigration firm Chavez & Valko<\/a>.<\/p>\n ICE did not respond to multiple requests for a tour of the detention center or questions sent via email.<\/p>\n Prairieland\u2019s proximity to the Dallas area makes it more accessible for lawyers representing clients detained there, the Chavez & Valko site states. The other three facilities in the operations area of ICE\u2019s Dallas field office are in Anson, Eden and Haskill, at least a 3-hour drive west of the Metroplex.<\/p>\n The facility spurred controversy as soon as beds began to be filled because of its dedicated transgender ward. Three dozen beds are in a separate area reserved for transgender detainees. Prairieland was the second such facility in the country when it opened, according to The Guardian.<\/p>\n LGBTQ+ advocates who spoke to The Guardian the week it opened expressed concerns that the separate facilities for transgender detainees<\/a> would lead to isolation and make them targets for abuse.<\/p>\n Paul Hunker, a Dallas-based immigration lawyer who previously worked as chief counsel for ICE, said the idea was to protect transgender detainees, but he thinks the ward is no longer in use.<\/p>\n \u201cIt didn\u2019t last very long,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cI don\u2019t believe there\u2019s any special transgender detention there.\u201d<\/p>\n What are conditions like in the Prairieland Detention Center?<\/p>\n People who have been detained in Prairieland have described an overcrowded, unsanitary space.<\/p>\n One Afghan national who spoke to the Star-Telegram via phone from within the facility in March said he was with around 100 other men in a room meant for 60. Extra mattresses were spread out on the floor to accommodate the detainees.<\/p>\n