Jewish groups begin Passover push against immigration raids
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- January
- 29
A number of Jewish organizations are launching a campaign called “Progress by Pesach,” calling on President Obama to formally halt ICE raids and work on a broader solution to illegal immigration.
Pesach, or Passover, is part of the timetable because it’s “a time when we celebrate our freedom from bondage and remember when we were strangers in a strange land,” explains the web site, linked to that of Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. The goal is to collect 10,000 petition signatures by April 8.
The campaign wants to mobilize support for another effort to overhaul the immigration laws, but the immediate push is for an executive order calling for an end to raids as a primary enforcement tool. They pointed to the costs of raids like the one at a kosher meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa.
Why the focus on this particular issue? Organizers said during a conference call that immigration reform could benefit Jews from the former Soviet Union, Argentina and elsewhere, but that their motive was much broader: the need for a comprehensive solution and for a response to hate speech that has crept into the debate. The Anti-Defamation League has studied extremist rhetoric on immigration and the use of the issue as a recruitment tool by white supremacist groups.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, January 29th, 2009 at 2:40 pm by Leah Rae.
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