On Christmas Eve, the Washington Post broke the news that the Trump administration plans to convert seven large warehouses across the country into holding pens to collectively hold 80,000 humans. One of the selected sites is Hutchins, Texas, 30 miles…
Project 2025 Bingo: An update
With the current administration’s effort to “flood the zone” and obfuscate their illegal and immoral shenanigans, one would be forgiven for forgetting the origins of what has become known as Project 2025. Project 2025, technically called “The Mandate for Leadership,”…
What’s the difference between the Kennedy Center and a wedding cake?
So, what’s the difference between the Kennedy Center and a wedding cake? The First Amendment rights of wedding cake decorators are more secure than those of the center’s performing artists. Let me explain. In the same week President Donald Trump…
He died in ICE custody and now he’s eligible for a Green Card
I am one of the clergy members who has been holding vigil outside the Dallas ICE field office since May. After a gunman opened fire at the back of the facility in September, our weekly prayer vigil transformed into a…
What you need to know about Trump’s Secret Police Force
Democratic-led cities across America are being assaulted by masked men. These federal agents under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security — some Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and some Customs and Border Protection agents — are carrying out…
What Kristi Noem and DHS won’t admit about clergy-led protests
Last Thursday night, I had dinner at the home of Baptist pastor Michael Woolf, his wife, Anna Piela, and their young daughter. We ate lasagna that Woolf had cooked. The next morning, a Reuters photo of Woolf’s arrest at a…
A conversation with Michael Woolf about ICE and Chicago
On Halloween, ICE agents carried out a number of raids in and around Chicagoland — including in Evanston, home of Lake Street Church, an Alliance of Baptist congregation. In response, Lake Street’s senior pastor, Michael Woolf, joined protests at the…
United Methodist pastor violently arrested in Chicago
United Methodist pastor Hannah Kardon of United Church of Rogers Park, Ill., was violently arrested along with eight others at a peaceful protest at the Broadview ICE facility this morning. Kardon was part of a clergy group that was to…
In Chicago, Black and brown people are disappearing
The president of the United States has ordered an assault on Chicago. That assault is being carried out by a combination of groups — including uniformed Customs and Border Patrol officers, uniformed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, and plainclothes men…
What I witnessed in Chicago: Day 1
When my editor called me Friday and asked if I’d like to fly to Chicago to cover what’s happening here, I, of course, said yes. News had just broken that a Presbyterian pastor had been shot in the head with…
In Dallas, more questions than answers after ICE facility shooting
I have some unanswered questions about the Dallas ICE facility shooting. In addition to writing for Baptist News Global, I also serve as justice and advocacy minister at Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas. In that role, I joined a…
The gospel of MAGA in their own words about Charlie Kirk
Last April — long before Charlie Kirk’s untimely and horrific assassination Sept. 10 — I wrote an article about his rise from college dropout to Trump influencer. Since Kirk’s murder, I’ve watched with fascination the battle over his legacy. The…