There is no 'them' and 'us.' There is only us.

You stand with the least likely to succeed until success is succeeded by something more valuable: kinship. You stand with the belligerent, the surly and the badly behaved until bad behavior is recognized for the language it is: the vocabulary of the deeply wounded and of those whose burdens are more than they can bear.

Don't forget, you are the hero of your own story.

You are so much more than the worst thing you've ever done.

Even gang members imagine a future that doesn't include gangs.

You are exactly what God had in mind when he made you.

You can't reason with gang violence: you can't talk to it, sit it at the table, and negotiate with it.

Abject poverty, political instability, torture, and other abuses push thousands across our border. There is not a deterrent imaginable that equals the conditions that force their migration.

I wouldn't trade my life for anybody's.