5 Quotes by Kevin Appleby

We're at a critical time in the debate and we want the American public to receive a positive message. We don't want to do anything to create a backlash.

It conflicts directly with the mission of the church to assist people who come to us and are in need.

Our lawyers have interpreted when you add the word 'assist,' it could mean anything from providing soup in a soup kitchen, to letting someone stay a night, to giving someone water. A prosecutor could use that language to come after you.

We don't look at this as, 'Oh, here is a new group of Hispanics we have to compete over with other faiths.

It's a natural reaction when you feel people are here outside the law, that they should be stopped or sent back. But people need to understand greater forces are at play than a person deciding to cross a border - that in globalization, for example, labor is moving as much as capital.