By Alan Bean
I met Kent McKeever several months ago when I spoke at a worship service highlighting the need for immigration reform held at Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, Texas. Kent had just arrived in Waco to work as an immigration attorney in cooperation with Jimmy Dorrell’s Mission Waco. I knew immediately that Kent was one of those rare individuals Jesus had in mind when he said, “Blessed are the pure in heart” (Matthew 5:8).
A few weeks ago, law professor Mark Osler celebrated McKeever’s selfless odyssey in a Waco Tribune column:
A Baylor grad, he had gone on to get a degree from Princeton Theological Seminary before entering Vanderbilt’s top-flight law school. His credentials could have opened the door to many high-paying jobs, the kind of work (and pay) that students dream of. But his hope was for something very different. He wanted to return to Waco and provide legal services to the poor.
I saw Kent again last week at the Christian Community Development (CCDA) conference in New Orleans. He has been cooperating with a variety of evangelical groups working for immigration reform, most recently a diverse group calling itself Bibles, Badges and Business. The Waco Tribune has published an illuminating conversation between the Tribune editorial staff and this group, and McKeever was part of the discussion. (more…)
This CQ op-ed from former prosecutor Robert Johnson (no, he’s not the crossroads guy) touches on the often bizarre structural issues prosecutors and judges face when they handle immigration cases. Too often, their hands are tied by punitive laws created by opportunistic politicians. As Johnson makes clear, there is little room for common sense and compassion in the present system. It would be tragic if, in the name of compromise, immigration reform reduced the discretion of judges and prosecutors still further. AGB
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