The push for immigration reform shows some hopeful signs after years of contentious battle over the issue, a three-member panel said during a conference on cultural renewal in Washington, D.C. “The momentum is in the right direction,” Southern Baptist public policy specialist Barrett Duke said of the prospect of the U.S. dealing “in a humane way with the question of the folks who are here illegally.” But, he noted, “we do still have a lot of work to do at the grassroots level.”