“When a stranger (ger) resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him.
The ger who dwells with you should be like one of your citizens. ”
Leviticus 19:33
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This guide was edited and prepared by the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs (JCUA)
Irene Lehrer Sandalow, Director of Outreach and Education, JCUA
Aliza Becker, member of JCUA’s Immigrant Justice Strategy Team
Special thanks for edits and review:
Peggy Slater, Cheryl Guttman, Ira Azulay, Michaela Purdue, Brian Gladstein, Tom Walsh, Allison
Fisher, Jonathan Lehrer
Sections of this guide were adapted from, and inspired by, the following sources:
PBS Independent Lens: The Immigration Myth sand Realities Quiz
“Ickler: An immigration quiz,” by Glenn Ickler, The Metrowest Daily News, August 4, 2008
Reform Immigration for America
Jewish Council on Urban Affairs
Contact Information
Jewish Council on Urban Affairs
610 S. Michigan Ave. 5th floor
Chicago, IL 60605
(312)663-0960 www.jcua.org
The mission of the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs is to combat poverty, racism and anti-Semitism in partnership with Chicago’s diverse communities. Guided by prophetic Jewish principles, JCUA pursues social and economic justice for Chicago’s most vulnerable neighborhoods by promoting a vision of empowering communities from within. Since 1964, JCUA has assisted groups in low-income and minority communities, built coalitions with diverse groups, advocated on issues of poverty and racism and mobilized a Jewish constituency to create a more just city.
Revised April 13, 2010
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Jewish law demands that we treat “the stranger” with the utmost respect and dignity. The Torah reminds us, dozens of times; to treat the stranger well for “[we] were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
Once we have become “insiders,” we cannot forget our experiences as “outsiders,” but must allow these experiences to inform our own treatment of the “outsiders” among us.
According to the late Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf, of KAM Isaiah Israel in Chicago, “There is a biblical and rabbinic tradition of seeking the welfare of our fellow humans whenever and wherever they meet us. The non-Jewish neighbor is either a ger tsedek, a full member of our community, or a ger
toshav, a resident alien who shares our place in God’s world without fully adhering to our faith or to our polity. Of these folks we must take special care.”
Throughout history, Jewish communities have been targeted as strangers and many of us have inherited family legacies of persecution and economic exploitation that parallel the experiences of today’s immigrants. As inheritors of an immigrant history, we have a unique responsibility to protect the rights of non-citizens.
We remember that once were strangers in the land of Egypt. As Rabbi Robert J. Marx, founder of
JCUA writes: “I feel that freedom is Judaism, that Passover is not 3,000 years old- that it is today, and that we are part of it.” It is in this spirit that JCUA advocates for fair, just, and compassionate immigration reform.
This information guide was created with the goal to educate the Jewish community about why as
Jews we should care about immigration reform. There are a lot of questions and misconceptions about this important issue, and we hope that this guide helps bring people to understand and in turn become advocates for this important issue, the civil rights issue of our time.
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1.
Most immigrants come to the United States from where? a.
Middle East and Africa b.
Asia and Latin America
2. What percentage of the world's immigrants come to the United States? a.
More than 35 percent b.
22 percent c.
15 percent d.
Less than one percent
3. What is the most common reason people from other countries come to the U.S. to live? a.
To join a close family member b.
For employment c.
To escape persecution (as a refugee)
4. Immigrants made up what percentage of the total U.S. population in 2000? a.
6 percent b.
11 percent c.
15 percent d.
28 percent
5. Undocumented immigrant workers take jobs away from native workers. a.
True b.
False
6. Which of the following personalities was born in the United States? a.
Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State b.
Andrew Grove, founder, Intel Corporation c.
Jennifer Lopez, actor, musician d.
Gene Simmons, rock musician, Kiss e.
Patrick Ewing, basketball player, New York Knicks
7. When your ancestors immigrated before the turn of the 20th century, which document was required for them to enter legally? a.
Valid passport b.
U.S. work permit c.
Certified identification card d.
None of the above
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8. Immigrants historically have picked up English much faster than they do today.
1.
True
2.
False
9. From the founding of this country until 1965, there were no limits on the number of immigrants who could squeeze through the border from: a.
Canada b.
Mexico c.
Bolivia d.
All of the above
10. Benjamin Franklin wrote that these immigrants were "excessively fertile, reluctant to assimilate, lazy and unwilling to learn English." a.
Irish b.
Italians c.
Germans d.
Transylvanians
11. If you would like to get legal status in the US, you can get a green card by marrying a U.S. citizen. a.
True b.
False
12. Which of the following immigrant groups were not considered "white" by many mainstream
Americans at the turn of 20 th the century? a.
Swedes b.
Finns c.
Italians d.
Irish e.
All of the above
13. Immigration reform is bad for the economy. a. True b. False
14. Undocumented immigrants do not pay taxes. a. True b. False
15. Immigrants who enter the U.S. illegally do not want to follow the law and wait in line for a green card along with other legal immigrants. a. True b. False
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The need for the Jewish community to take a strong stance on immigration reform stems from its values and its history.
The Jewish community prides itself on upholding the Jewish values of “Protecting the Ger (Stranger),” a fair justice system, and caring for the poor. Moreover,
Jews have played a pivotal role in the immigration debate. Our own history is one of immigration, of advocating for a fair immigration system since the early 19th century and challenging the status-quo.
It is imperative for the Jewish community to build a movement in partnership with our allies to demand a just and compassionate immigration system.
Protecting the Ger, Stranger: Immigrants in our country deserve the same protection as everybody
else
Leviticus 19:33 commands, “When a stranger (ger) resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him. The ger who dwells with you should be like one of your citizens. ”
Here, and in 35 other instances in the Bible, Jews are instructed to care for the stranger, recalling their time in the land of Egypt.
Fair Justice System: Ending the Mistreatment of Immigrants in Detention Centers
Advocating for the rights of immigrant detainees reflect the Jewish mandate to uphold a fair justice system.
In Deuteronomy 16:12, we are commanded to establish a justice system: “Judges and police officers you shall place in all your gates, […] and they shall judge the people with righteous justice.” Everybody should be treated and protected equally by the justice system, regardless of where they are from.
“You shall have one law for the stranger and the citizens alike.” (Leviticus 24:22)
The U.S. strives to uphold the values of fairness and due process, but today our broken immigration system denies basic human rights and due process to people who are being detained. The
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detained more than 370,000 men, women, and children last year, a 60 percent increase from just four years ago. Thousands of people are denied basic rights such as access to health care, a lawyer, and a meaningful day in court. Most have no criminal history, yet they can be jailed for months or years at a time. More than 100 people have died in U.S. custody since
2004. Immigrant detainees frequently are denied access to the due process rights that are the foundation of the U.S. justice system.
1
Caring for the Poor: Immigrants are Victims of Poor Working Conditions and Low Wages
We are commanded in Deuteronomy Chapter 15: 7 to care for the poor in your land as it is said:
1 Heartland Alliance: National Immigration Justice Center.
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“If there be among you a needy man, […] you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your needy brother.”
Undocumented workers, striving to provide a better life for their families--the very reason for migrating to the U.S., are exploited by employers who take advantage of their vulnerable and desperate situation. Undocumented workers often endure unfair treatment and wages because they fear being fired or reported to immigration authorities.
2
Jewish Immigrants to the U.S. are as Diverse as our Country
The American Jewish community includes both native-born American Jews and foreign-born Jews from around the world. Jewish refugees and immigrants came to the United States seeking religious liberty and freedom from persecution. They came for an education at universities and yeshivas, to reunite with family members and to assume religious and other professional occupations.
3
Jews as Migrants is Central to the Jewish identity
“[H]istorically, the Jew has been considered an alien; a stranger, an outsider even in host societies where Jewish communities had flourished for thousands of years. Indeed, the traditional founder of
Judaism, the Patriarch Abraham, was himself a migrant. He followed the call to leave his kin and his birthplace, Ur Khasdim, with its many associations and memories, and migrate as a stranger and wanderer to Canaan, the Promised Land.
From the Jewish perspective, migration has not only served as a safety valve to escape possible destruction; it also may be considered the loom upon which the distinctive and variegated pattern of
Jewish history has been woven through the ages.” 4
Struggle of Jewish Immigrants in the U.S.
When Jews arrived from Eastern Europe in the early 20th century, they faced harsh and difficult immigration policies and deplorable living conditions. For example, arriving at Ellis Island, Jews underwent dreaded medical examinations and psychological tests. Moreover, many had been slated for deportation by the sometimes harsh and arbitrarily-acting immigrant officials. Because of language barriers and legal formalities, immigrants scheduled to be deported were rarely able to defend themselves. Jewish institutional intervention by the Board of Inquiry on behalf of these unfortunate immigrants effectively decreased the number sent back.
5
The Jewish Motivation for Immigration Reform Stems from Sharing Experiences with Other
Immigrant Groups
Today’s immigrants seek U.S. residency for many of the same reasons as Jews:
 perceived lack of freedom;
 overpopulation in country of origin;
2 Exploited: The Plight of the Undocumented Worker. By Cristina Jimenez, Drum Major Institute. Posted on August 12,
2008, Printed on January 23, 2009 http://www.alternet.org/story/94703/
3 A Jewish Vision For the Future of American Immigration and Refugee Policy, July 5, 2005 http://www.hias.org/news/jewish-vision-future-american-immigration-and-refugee-policy
4 Edelman, Joseph. “The Centenary of Jewish Immigration to the United States: 1881- 1981.” Judaism
5 Ibid.
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 racial, religious, social or political oppression;
 limited educational opportunity;
 economic barriers;
 repression of cultural and ideological expression;
 discriminatory differential treatment;
 desire for reunion with families; and
 social and political instability in country of origin. 6
The Jewish community and its institutions have a long history of being actively engaged in the struggles of new immigrants and in the development of the nation’s immigration policy.
From the 1880s to early 1920s, Jews strongly opposed efforts to curtail immigration and the institution of a national origin quota system. The community’s opposition continued after these harmful principles were included in the immigration acts of 1921 and 1924 – with devastating effects during the Holocaust – and until these quotas were eliminated in 1965.
Jews championed the cause of refugees following World War II, and advocated for the Refugee Act of
1980 that created today’s refugee resettlement system. In recent years many Jewish organizations worked to restore due process protections and access to public benefits that were eliminated for legal immigrants in draconian legislation enacted in 1996.
In the period since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, many in the Jewish community and the broader
American public have reviewed the nation’s immigration and refugee policies.
7 The Jewish community has expressed concern and advocated against the policies which attempted to conflate immigration with terrorism.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Emma Lazarus, “The New Colossus,” (1883)
Poem mounted inside the Statue of Liberty in 1903
6 Ibid.
7 A Jewish Vision For the Future of American Immigration and Refugee Policy, July 5, 2005 http://www.hias.org/news/jewish-vision-future-american-immigration-and-refugee-policy
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Quendy Alejandra Garcia’s Story
“I was arrested in the Postville, Iowa raid at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant [in 2008]. I was at work around 10 a.m., doing work that is very hard, lifting very heavy things and working long hours, and all of a sudden, people started yelling that [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] had arrived. We all started running and crying. “[Immigration authorities] loaded us on a bus and from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. we sat and waited. We saw our male co-workers taken away and some of us women had ankle bracelets put on so we could go back to our children. After they let us go, I went to the church. My two daughters were there.
“We stayed at the church for the night, and then four more days after that. My seven-year-old asked me, ‘What is happening to you and why do you have that [ankle bracelet] on your foot?’ I explained to her what happened and that we would have to go to Mexico. She told me she does not want to go because she was born here, this is her home and she wants to learn more English. “It is very hard for me, too. After nine years here, I don’t want to go to back to Mexico. I came here to give my children a better future and I am hopeful that the last word will be good from the judge. Our only crime was to come here and work. Now that I can no longer work, I can no longer provide for my children, but I keep trusting in God that all of this will come to an end for the welfare of my children.”
Pastor Mario’s Story
Pastor Mario’s wife migrated to Chicago from the Philippines in 1977, and she petitioned for Pastor
Mario to join her a year later. Because of the heavy influx of Vietnamese refugees at that time, his immigration was delayed for two years. When he finally arrived in 1980, he quickly found a job and started adjusting to American life. In 1985, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen and immediately filed a petition for his brother and sister who were still in the Philippines. Four years after filing the petition and with no answers, his siblings’ absence weighed heavily on his mind. He wrote to his senator asking for help expediting his families’ reunification. Pastor Mario received a reply saying that he would have to follow immigration guidelines with regard to the visa availability for his petition category.
Unfortunately, the dream of uniting his family here in the United States died with his brother in 1994, whom he would never see again. Finally, after 23 years of waiting, Pastor Mario received the documents required to process the petition for his sister.
Adam Savitt’s Story
Adam Savitt, an immigrant from Guatemala, was sitting on the front porch of his home in Highland
Park, IL on a Monday morning, when eight federal immigration agents showed up. Within minutes, they had taken him into custody and handed his belt, keys and wallet to his wife of seven years, Julie
Savitt. They did not show her a warrant and did not tell anyone why he was being detained. Adam was taken to an immigration detention facility. It took his wife four days to find where he was.
Though Julie gave the immigration agents his diabetes and depression medication, Adam did not
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receive his diabetes medication for several days in the detention center, until immigrant rights organizations, lawyers and his rabbi intervened. Eventually, Adam was deported to Guatemala.
At the time, the Savitts were going through the legal channels for Adam to become a legal permanent resident of U.S.
Adam has helped raise Julie’s three children and is supporting his two other children. Today, however, our laws do not take into account that Adam Savitt is married to a U.S. citizen, a successful businessman, a resident of Highland Park, that he fled Guatemala during its bloody civil war, and an applicant for the marriage visa that would allow him to live with his family in the United States.
Muhamed Kamal’s Story
In November 2003 Muayeda Halboos Kamal showed her 15-year-old son,
Muhamed, around a small apartment in Jordan, instructing him how to boil tea and cook their favorite Iraqi dishes. After assuring him that it would only be a few weeks before they were reunited,
Muayeda boarded a plane for America and left Muhamed behind. Muhamed’s separation from his family lasted four years.
In 2001, Muhamed’s father had visited Washington, D.C. on a tourist visa to escape the danger imposed on his Shia family by Saddam Hussein’s Sunni regime. He received asylum and was allowed to bring his wife and children to the United States in 2001, but everything changed on Sept.
11, 2001. In 2003 Muayedah and her youngest son Muayed were approved for travel to the United
States by the American consulate in Jordan. But Muhamed was denied because he would need to clear additional background checks by the Department of Homeland Security. After weeks of waiting
Muayeda and her youngest son left for the U.S. so as not to lose their visas.Separations like this became common when a moratorium was imposed on Iraqi males over 14 after Sept. 11. Muhamed’s visa had been approved in 2003, but Muhamed remained in Jordan for four years because of a paperwork dispute between the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department.
Muhamed had simply fallen through the cracks.
Rigo Padilla’s Story
Rigo Padilla, 21 years old, has lived in the United Stated since he was 6 years old and lived in
Chicago for most of his life. Rigo had attended the University of Illinois-Chicago for one semester, until the burden of paying for a public university became too much. Rigo, an excellent student and the leader of the Organization of Latin American Students at Harold Washington College and active member of his community, was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after being pulled over for a traffic violation by the Chicago Police. Currently, there is no path to legalization for people brought here as minors. Activists and allies organized a campaign to stop his deportation and were able to secure a one year reprieve. Rigo is like many other immigrant youth who are punished for the alleged transgressions of their parents. Even before Padilla became a target of ICE, he was facing the same struggle that an estimated 60,000 undocumented students face each year when graduating from high school--how to pay for higher education. If comprehensive immigration reform is not passed in 2010, Rigo will have to return to Mexico, a place he does not know.
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The family is the basic unit of our society, and immigrants who have the support of strong families are more likely to contribute to society, pay taxes, and start businesses that create jobs. But our broken immigration system divides families and keeps loved ones apart for years and even decades, which discourages them from following the rules and working within the system.
It doesn’t make sense to spend billions of dollars rounding people up, breaking up families, shutting down businesses, and deporting people who are working, learning English, and putting down roots here. For immigrants who don’t have legal status, we should require them to come out of the shadows and register, pay taxes, and start working toward becoming Americans, while keeping their families together.
Reforming immigration will help protect all workers from exploitation and unfair competition. Currently, millions of workers — one in twenty in the U.S. workforce — are vulnerable to employers who seek unfair advantage over their competitors by not paying workers minimum wage or by ignoring labor rights protected by law. Bringing undocumented workers into the system will allow them to stand up for their rights. When they are on equal footing with other workers, unscrupulous employers will not easily be able to pit one group of workers against another, driving down wages for all Americans.
America should not settle for a downwardly spiraling competition for lower wage jobs. America needs more jobs, more rights for workers, and better wages, not more laws to keep workers out or keep workers down.
Reforming immigration is an important part of fixing the ailing economy. The federal government has an obligation to reform immigration for all American workers.
Today, almost every American company needs smart planning to navigate through hard times and be ready for growth when the economy recovers.
Unfortunately, for too many American businesses, the unreliable and obsolete immigration system makes planning for the future more difficult.
Industries like agriculture that require a large workforce ready, willing, and able to work long and physically demanding days have been unable to plan their business strategies around a stable
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workforce. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, such sectors have relied on immigrant workers to do those jobs. The hospitality, restaurant, business services, and manufacturing sectors face similar problems.
One of the challenges American businesses face today is the aging American workforce, the rapid retirement of the large Baby Boomer generation. To maintain a balanced and a stable workforce,
American businesses must find younger workers, especially in manual labor jobs. With more and more US citizen youth earning high school and college degrees and seeking out white-collar professions, the trend is making the prospects of adequately filling jobs in certain sectors extremely difficult, even in this tough economy.
The immigration system we have today makes little sense in terms of
America’s security. With few effective legal options to immigrate to the US and to become a citizen, many seek ways to go around the system. This broken system has spawned a thriving market for smugglers and has generated chaos on the border. A seemingly random enforcement regime targets ordinary immigrant workers and families, diverting resources away from protecting against genuine threats. Millions of immigrants are unknown to the government. Unscrupulous employers have little fear of punishment for recruiting and exploiting undocumented workers and undermining their honest competitors.
Immigration reform will allow more immigrants enter the US with a visa, not with a smuggler. It will require undocumented immigrants to register with the government, and go through government background security checks. This screening process will separate ordinary immigrants who have come seeking opportunities to better their lives from those who may be exploiting a broken system or provides to those who may be coming to do us harm.
Enforcement resources can then be focused on employers who flaunt labor laws and exploit undocumented immigrants, on smugglers who traffic drugs and guns who are creating chaos on the border, and on violent individuals inside the country who may pose a threat to public safety.
By getting ordinary immigrants in line for citizenship and prioritizing enforcement actions to target genuine threats, immigration reform will be good for America’s security.
From REFORM IMMIGRATION FOR AMERICA, reformimmigrationforamerica.org
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The Jewish Council on Urban Affairs (JCUA) calls for legislation protecting, promoting and fulfilling the civil and human rights of all individuals including undocumented immigrants. Guided by prophetic Jewish law and values, the U.S. Constitution and the
UN Declaration of Human Rights, JCUA is advocating against current U.S. policies and practices that criminalize and dehumanize immigrants and refugees. The Torah teaches, “There shall be one law for the citizen and for the stranger who dwells among you” (Exodus 12:49).
JCUA believes that Congress should enact immigration reform policies and legislation that:

Keeps families united and decrease the waiting time for family re-unification.
According to Jewish tradition, “Kin and family resemble a heap of stones; if one stone is taken out of it, the whole collapses.” (Genesis Rabbah) To the devastation of many families our current system does just the opposite. We welcome one member of a family to our county and yet keep them separated for years from their kin seeking the same refuge to our shores. We send mothers and fathers to countries they no longer know or call home while their children (many U.S. citizens) are left to fend for themselves or leave and face the hardships and in some cases dangers of a place their parents fled years and decades ago.

Creates pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
We need comprehensive immigration reform that provides for an orderly flow of immigrants to the United States and deals humanely with the 12 million undocumented immigrants already living among us. The undocumented community is strengthening our economy representing a vital workforce in manufacturing, service, construction, restaurant, and agriculture sectors.
Undocumented workers must be able to live and work without discrimination and wage theft. By insuring these basic rights all workers in our country will benefit, and so to will our county’s economy.

Creates a plan for future migration flows in order to protect all workers' rights.
Improved worker programs can fill workforce gaps and protect the jobs and working conditions of all American workers. The absence of legal channels for low-skilled immigrant workers has served as a ready tool for abusive employers to deny Americans jobs and exploit vulnerable immigrants seeking work and opportunity. The fact is that undocumented workers are among the most vulnerable and exploited workers experiencing dangerous working conditions, uncompensated workplace injuries, unpaid wages and other labor law violations.
8 We are commanded in
Deuteronomy Chapter 15: 7 to care for the poor in your land as it is said: “If there be among you a
8 Workplace Fairness: it's everyone's job, Short-Changed: America's Workers are Giving More and Getting Less; 2010 http://www.workplacefairness.org/sc
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needy man, […] you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your needy brother.”
Undocumented workers, striving to provide a better life for their families, the very reason for migrating to the U.S., are exploited by employers who take advantage of their vulnerable and desperate situation. Undocumented workers often endure unfair treatment and wages because they fear being fired or reported to immigration authorities; 9

Protects the human rights and health of us all.
We need an immigration system that ensures that immigrants and their children, documented or not, have access to the services that will ensure their health and safety as they work to become fully integrated into our nation and society. Denying any one living among us the services needing to stay healthy and productive not only offends the humanity of all people, but threatens the health and well-being of our very country.

Protect the rights of refugees and asylees.
Our country must ensure fair and equal treatment of individuals and their family members seeking asylum, and end the inhumane detention and warehousing of asylum seekers. Throughout history, Jewish communities have been targeted as stranger and many of us have inherited family legacies of persecution and economic exploitation that parallel the experiences of immigrants coming to America today. As inheritors of an immigrant history, we have a unique responsibility to protect the rights of those looking for a place of safety, justice and opportunity to live and raise their families.

Ensure the Rights of Detainees.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detained more than 370,000 men, women, and children last year. Thousands of people are denied basic rights such as access to health care, a lawyer, and a meaningful day in court. Most have no criminal history, yet they can be jailed for months or years at a time. More than 100 people have died in U.S. custody since 2004. Immigrant detainees frequently are denied access to the due process rights that are the foundation of the U.S. justice system.
10
In Deuteronomy 16:12, we are commanded to establish a fair justice system: “Judges and police officers you shall place in all your gates, […] and they shall judge the people with righteous justice.” Everybody should be treated and protected equally by the justice system, regardless of where they are from. “You shall have one law for the stranger and the citizens alike.” (Leviticus 24:22)
Written by Irene Lehrer Sandalow and Tom Walsh of the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs
, February 24, 2010
9 Exploited: The Plight of the Undocumented Worker. By Cristina Jimenez, Drum Major Institute. Posted on August 12, 2008, Printed on January 23, 2009 http://www.alternet.org/story/94703/
10
Heartland Alliance: National Immigration Justice Center.
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Q. How can you urge immigration reform when so many people are losing their jobs?
A. According to a January 2010 study by UCLA’s Dr. Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda, Raising the Floor for American
Workers: The Economic Benefits of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, legalizing undocumented workers through comprehensive immigration reform would yield $1.5 trillion to the U.S. GDP over a ten year period, generate billions in additional tax revenue and consumer spending and support hundreds of thousands of jobs. The study compares data from the experience of the 1986 legalization program which also was implemented during a recession yet it still helped raise wages and spurred increases in educational, home, and small-business investments by newly legalized immigrants. Enacting a comprehensive immigration reform plan which creates a legalization process for undocumented workers
and sets a flexible visa program dependent on U.S. labor would raise the wage floor for all American workers —particularly in industries where large numbers of easily exploited, low-wage, unauthorized immigrants currently work.
Q. Won’t legalizing immigrants take jobs away from unemployed Americans?
A. A recent study from the Immigration Policy Forum entitled “The Economic Blame Game: U.S.
Unemployment is Not Caused by Immigration” shows U.S. unemployment is not caused by immigration and there is no direct correlation between the presence of recent immigrants and unemployment levels at the regional, state, or county level. Immigrants create more jobs than they themselves fill. They do so directly by starting new businesses and indirectly through their expenditures on U.S. goods and services.
Also, Native-born workers and recent immigrant workers are different and not easily interchangeable and recent immigrants often work at jobs that others in the community refuse to perform.
Q. Why should Jews be concerned about undocumented immigrants?
A. The need for the Jewish community to take a strong stance on immigration reform stems from its values and its history. The Jewish community prides itself on upholding the Jewish values of “Protecting the Ger (Stranger),” and caring for the poor. Jewish communal organizations have historically been in the forefront of immigration reform efforts understanding that our own people have been migrants looking for a place to be welcomed and the U.S. has been the best friend to Jews looking for safe haven.
Q. “My Jewish grandparents waited their turn and came here legally, why can’t new immigrants do the same?”
A. Until Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) is passed, there is virtually no path to legal residency and citizenship available to the majority of new immigrants. Only around World War I did the U.S. and other nations establish formal systems for documenting immigrants. The 1924 National Origins Act for the first time imposed broad immigration quotas. Until 1965, the U.S. imposed no limits on the number of immigrants allowed from North and South America. Nearly all these immigrants were legal. Many members of the Jewish community came to this country illegally fleeing persecution and looking for better opportunities for them and their family.
Q. “Why are there so many people coming here now from Mexico and Central and South America?”
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A. U.S. trade policy, specifically the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA, 1994) and the
Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA, 2005), has made it extremely difficult for many people to survive in their home countries. NAFTA and CAFTA have created greater wealth disparity, destroyed agriculture as a means for income, and reduced wages in all countries involved. According to a 2006 study in Immigration Policy in Focus, the process of North American economic integration, and development within Mexico itself, create structural conditions that encourage Mexican migration to the
United States. While NAFTA has increased relative wages for some skilled workers in Mexico, the lowwage manufacturing sector has during the NAFTA years and real manufacturing wages are some 11 percent lower than when the agreement went into effect. Overall, since NAFTA was signed, the wage disparity in Mexico has worsened. i
Q. What are some of the motivations of anti-immigrant groups?
A. The anti-immigration movement is motivated by the same old xenophobic feelings as anti-Semitism. A report in 2009 from Southern Poverty Law Center demonstrates that the three largest anti immigration groups, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies
(CIS), and Numbers USA, stand at the nexus of the American nativist movement. Although on the surface they appear quite different are all part of a network of restrictionist organizations conceived and created by John Tanton, the “puppeteer” of the nativist movement and a man with deep racist roots. […] Tanton has been at the heart of the white nationalist scene. He has met with leading white supremacists, promoted anti-Semitic ideas, and associated closely with the leaders of a eugenicist foundation once described by a leading newspaper as a “neo-Nazi organization.” He has made a series of racist statements about Latinos and worried that they were outbreeding whites.
Q. Advocating for the 12 million undocumented immigrants who broke the law to become automatically legal citizens doesn’t make sense. Shouldn’t there be consequences for them breaking the law?
A. The current legislations are not advocating for automatic citizenship for the 12 million undocumented immigrants. Instead it is advocating for a pathway for citizenship, where immigrants have the opportunity to earn their citizenship. The immigrants will go through the background checks and pay their fair share of taxes. They will go through a process which is not a guarantee but an opportunity to get legal status.
Q. What is JCUA’s role in the immigration reform campaign and who are some of the Jewish organizations sponsoring this initiative?
A. JCUA works as an ally with immigrant communities and organizations. The call for immigration reform is being made by local and national immigrant-led and immigrant rights groups. We are speaking up as Jews, alongside immigrant communities. We know that we can only make change together.
The members of the We Were Strangers Too Coalition are: American Jewish Committee, Anti-
Defamation League, B'nai B'rith International, Jewish Community Action, Jewish Community Relations
Council of Greater Washington, Jewish Community Relations Council of Southern Arizona, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, Jews United for Justice, Jewish Labor Committee, Miklat! A Jewish Response to
Displacement , National Council of Jewish Women, Progressive Jewish Alliance, Rabbinical Assembly, The
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Union for Reform Judaism, Uri L'Tzedek..
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Send a Message to Congress: Pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform This Year
We need to send a strong message to members of Illinois’ Congressional Caucus that our immigration system is in desperate need of reform and we need their support and leadership.
CALL the representative in your district.
Talking Points
I am calling to ask Representative X to please support comprehensive immigration reform.
What is the Representative’s stance on immigration reform?
WRITE to your member of Congress. Sign the We Were Strangers Too Postcard or go to www.jcua.org/strangers
Stay alert with our key actions!
The reform movement ( www.reformimmigrationforamerica.org
) needs strong Jewish allies standing in solidarity with immigrant communities. Join JCUA as we participate in marches, rallies, interfaith events calling for comprehensive immigration. Contact JCUA or to receive alerts on immigration actions.
Knowledge is Power!
Host an educational event on immigration for your community and educate your network on the important and beneficial role that immigrants play in our nation’s economic, social, and cultural life.
We will all benefit from a fair, compassionate, and comprehensive immigration system. Ask your rabbi to give a Dvar Torah on immigration or give one yourself. Contact JCUA to receive educational materials, including sample Dvar Torahs, or to plan a workshop.
Get more involved on an individual level!
If you would like to get more involved on the immigration issues JCUA is tackling please contact us to set up a time to meet with JCUA staff and current members of our Immigrant Justice Strategy
Team.
For more information, questions, or to get more involved contact Irene Lehrer Sandalow, Director of
Outreach and Education at the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, at Irene@jcua.org
.
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1. ANSWER: B. Asia and Latin America. Most immigrants come to the United
States from Asia and Latin America. From 1900 to 2000, the proportion of immigrants from Asia and Latin America increased from less then 1.5 percent to
26 percent and 52 percent, respectively.
2. ANSWER C: Less than 1 percent. Of the 175 million migrants in the world, the U.S. admitted
1,063,732 documented immigrants in 2002. Undocumented immigration adds approximately 350,000 people per year by INS estimates.
3. ANSWER A: To join a close family member. Most legal immigrants (about 75 percent) come to the
U.S. to join close family members, although employment and escaping persecution are two of the other main reasons people come to the U.S.
4. ANSWER: B. 11 percent (11.1 percent to be exact). In 1910, immigrants made up nearly 15 percent of the U.S. population but in 2000, immigrants made up a little more than 11 percent of the population. Immigration was at its peak during the late 19th and early 20th centuries when
Europeans arrived to work in the factories of the industrializing cities and the Western territories.
Census Bureau statistics for 2000 report that out of approximately 281.4 million people living in the
U.S., 31.1 million were born outside the country U.S. So far, no single decade has topped 1901-1910 for immigration admissions.
5. ANSWER: False. Studies show that undocumented immigration either has no effect on native workers or actually increases their labor market opportunities by boosting the industries that create new jobs. Immigrants create more jobs than they themselves fill. They do so directly by starting new businesses and indirectly through their expenditures on U.S. goods and services. Undocumented immigrants often take jobs that others in the community refuse to perform. For example, the railroads across the West were largely built by Chinese immigrants, and large-scale agricultural production still relies on Mexican workers, many of whom are migrants, not immigrants.
6. ANSWER: C. Jennifer Lopez. With parents hailing from the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, J.
Lo was born in the Bronx, New York. All of the others are first-generation immigrants to the United
States: Madeleine Albright from Czechoslovakia, Andrew Grove from Hungary, Gene Simmons from
Israel and Patrick Ewing from Jamaica.
7. ANSWER D. Only around World War I did the U.S. and other nations establish formal systems for documenting immigrants.
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8. ANSWER False. Anyone who is an immigrant is aware that there life would be easier if they could learn English. The question is not a desire to learn English, but an ability to learn English given the many challenges of immigrant life and the resources it takes to learn. Many immigrants are working two jobs to make ends meet. And even if they have time to take an ESL class, the waiting lists to get into the classes are long. On a side note, many of our ancestors never learned very good English and some never learned it at all. A century ago, there were 10,000 foreign-language newspapers in the country.
9. ANSWER D. Until 1965, the U.S. imposed no limits on the number of immigrants allowed from
North and South America. Nearly all these immigrants were legal.
10. ANSWER C. Franklin wrote in 1751: "Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of our Anglicizing them?"
11. ANSWER False. In the past a US citizen who married an immigrant who arrived legally but became undocumented after their work, tourist or student visa expired could easily become citizen.
However, in 1996, the Immigration Reform Act essentially made the process very difficult for people who do not have legal status to get a green card. A U.S. citizen can still petition to get a green card for a spouse who arrived in the U.S. illegally, but the person is required to apply for the petition in their native country and cannot return to the US before it has been approved. This process can take ten years before they can get their green card and come back to the US.
12. ANSWER E. "There were 15 white men for every Swede" wrote a Yankee worker to his parents in
1901. Immigrants without a British complexion were not considered white by some well-established
Yankee settlers.
13. ANSWER False. According to a new study by UCLA’s Dr. Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda, Raising the Floor
for American Workers: The Economic Benefits of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, legalizing undocumented workers through comprehensive immigration reform would yield $1.5 trillion to the
U.S. GDP over a ten year period, generate billions in additional tax revenue and consumer spending and support hundreds of thousands of jobs. The report, which runs several different economic scenarios, finds that enacting a comprehensive immigration reform plan which creates a legalization process for undocumented workers and sets a flexible visa program dependent on U.S. labor demands not only raises the floor for all American workers, but is an economic necessity.
14. ANSWER False. Most undocumented immigrants have historically paid taxes and because of their legal status have not applied for benefits which they would be due if they had documents such as unemployment or social security. However, the recent crackdown on employers who hire workers with false papers is forcing more and more of them into the underground cash economy. Even with that, many immigrants still pay taxes. IRS law enables them to apply for a tax ID number even if they
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do not have a green card. They do this in hopes that someday they will become legal and the taxes paid will be seen as a sign that they do want to live in America.
15. ANSWER False. The average wait for an immigrant from Mexico applying for legal status through a family relationship is about 25 years. However if an immigrant does not have legal status and applies for citizenship, he or she would need return to their country of origin and wait ten years to return to the U.S. In effect, if somebody wants to stay close to their family, they generally have no choice than to be undocumented. Most immigrants who do not have a close family member who is a
U.S. citizen have no basis on which to apply for a visa and to initiative in the immigration application process.
So, how did you do? Think about these questions and answers the next time you hear a politician or another US citizen blame our country’s problems on immigrants living in the US.
i “ ACHIEVING ‘SECURITY AND PROSPERITY’: Migration and North American Economic Integration,” Immigration Policy in Focus, Feb. 2006.
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