Is a bipartisan solution to the nation’s broken immigration system possible? Three Texas legislators and an Arizona senator believe it is and have proposed a bipartisan bill to show how. That bill, the Bipartisan Border Solutions Act (S. 1358), is…
8,100 asylum seekers sent to Mexico by Trump now processed into U.S. but there’s still more to be done
Despite the well-publicized problems with a surge of migrants attempting to cross into the United States through the southern border, the Biden administration reports success on one related objective: Ending the controversial “remain in Mexico” policy of the Trump administration….
Biden administration skewered for keeping Trump-era cap on refugee resettlement
Immigration advocates — including numerous faith-based groups — reacted harshly to the Biden administration’s April 16 announcement that it would not, after all, raise the ceiling for admission of refugees this year. The blowback was so swift and harsh that…
We cannot now close our border to those fleeing the horror we helped create
Why should we open our border to poor people from Central America? What if they are really terrorists? What if they have COVID, or something even more contagious? How can we afford to take care of “their” children when we…
As unaccompanied children surge across the border again, Baptist ministries retool
A massive facility for immigrant children run by a Baptist-affiliated nonprofit has been reopened after sitting dormant for 20 months. The Carrizo Springs Influx Care Facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas, is operated by BCFS, formerly known as Baptist Child and…
Finding new life in the desert as a church becomes a place of healing for racial trauma
Hot, tumbleweeds, dry, brown, desert, mountain. These are words often used to describe El Paso, Texas. When I think of El Paso, I think of the sun kissing my skin. Heat enveloping me like the embrace of a long-lost friend….
Amid pandemic and other distractions, Americans not paying as much attention to immigration policy
While being against immigration was a key component of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and being for immigration was a key component of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, the pandemic has taken Americans’ minds off the immigration debate as a…
This week, we witnessed a miracle of immigrant family reunification
There are miracles that happen around us every day. But most of those are ordinary miracles. The fact that the sun rises each day is amazing. But I also believe, each day, that it will happen. Then there are miracles…
What’s old is new again: Conservatives threaten funding over SBC’s ethics agency
From the Department of What’s Old is New Again: The Southern Baptist Convention’s ethics agency is being accused of liberalism and creating a distraction from the work of evangelism and missions. During the fundamentalist takeover of the SBC that began…
Refugee resettlement expected to rebound, but the pipeline is broken
Repairing the global damage done by the Trump administration to refugee resettlement work will take time but will happen, according a panel of evangelical Christians deeply involved in such work. The Jan. 27 press briefing was convened by the National…
Can you really be ‘evangelical’ if you don’t bring good news to the poor?
American evangelicals must be reminded that they are to bear good news and be good news. Numerous American Christians don’t care for the politicized label “evangelical” even though they are, in fact, evangelists. Many such non-evangelicals are more evangelistic than…
What would happen if immigration policies were based on majority opinion in the U.S.?
What would happen if U.S. immigration policy were crafted based on the majority views of Americans? The two major political parties express often polar opposite views on immigration, and even presidents who are perceived as open to immigration (Barack Obama…