(RNS) — A broad group of prominent national and local Jewish organizations has sent a letter to President Donald Trump voicing stern opposition to his immigration policies and urging him to abandon plans for what they describe as “widespread persecution of immigrants.”
The letter, provided exclusively to Religion News Service before being unveiled on Monday (Jan. 27), railed against Trump’s immigration policies, which include promising to enact the “largest deportation” in U.S. history and largely freezing the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
“As 88 organizations that represent millions of diverse American Jews across the country, we write in opposition to your Administration’s plans to launch mass deportations, build massive detention camps, and conduct sweeping raids,” the letter reads.
The authors pointed to Judaism’s lengthy experience with immigration throughout history, noting Jewish people “have been forced to flee, denied access to safety, scapegoated, detained, and exploited.”
“This history and our Jewish values make immigration policy — including ensuring a functioning and welcoming refugee program and protection of the right to seek asylum — deeply personal to the Jewish community,” the letter reads.
The letter also appeared to reference Trump’s decision to end an internal government policy of discouraging immigration raids on hospitals, schools and houses of worship, a move that has been condemned by a wide spectrum of faith groups.
“During times of uncertainty and vulnerability, the places where people most often turn are our religious institutions,” the letter reads. “Proposed changes to the immigration policy, including allowing immigration authorities to enter sacred spaces, only serve to exacerbate feelings of fear, panic, and insecurity. People should be able to come together in peace and worship without fear of deportation, detention, or harassment.”
The authors add: “Please do not enact policies that would turn places of solace into places of fear. Let us work together to create a nation that continues to embrace religious freedom and demonstrates compassion for those who seek refuge.”
Signers of the letter include national groups such as the Union for Reform Judaism, the largest Jewish denomination in the U.S.; Rabbinical Assembly; Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association; Jewish Council for Public Affairs; National Council of Jewish Women; Bend the Arc: Jewish Action; J Street; T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights; and HIAS, a Jewish organization that partners with the U.S. government to help resettle refugees.
Signers also included many local communities and organizations, such as Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, D.C.; Temple Israel of Hollywood, Los Angeles, California; the Chicago Board of Rabbis; and several local chapters of the Jewish Community Relations Council in cities such as Boston, New Orleans, Phoenix and Seattle.
“The Jewish community knows well not only the importance of welcoming the stranger but also the dangerous path down which scapegoating, fear, and bigotry lead,” Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said in a statement. “These draconian immigration policies don’t just threaten our core values and freedoms — they also fundamentally make Jewish Americans, and so many other communities, less safe by normalizing hate and dehumanization and further emboldening violent extremists.”
In this July 8, 2019, file photo, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detain a man during an operation in Escondido, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
She was echoed by Merrill Zack of HIAS, who oversees the group’s global community engagement.
“The breadth and depth of Jewish organizations and congregations endorsing this statement signals that there is wide solidarity and support for our immigrant neighbors and friends,” Zack said in a statement. “Mass deportation would devastate communities, families, and economies.”
Jamie Beran, CEO of Bend the Arc, was even more strident in a separate statement, arguing Trump’s initial executive orders on immigration were “inspired by antisemitic, racist and xenophobic conspiracy theories.”
“It was no accident either that in 1933, Germany also began by targeting 100,000 Jewish immigrants,” Beran said. “And it is not by chance that both are designed not only to harm our families, but to test our institutions before attempting to take away more liberties from all Americans.”
She added: “Jewish Americans have a long history of fighting for immigrant rights and this is the time for us to double down on that commitment.”
The letter adds to the growing list of religious organizations and faith leaders who have condemned Trump’s immigration policies.
The morning of Trump’s first day in office, the Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, made headlines for pleading with the president as he sat for a sermon at the Washington National Cathedral to “have mercy” on groups impacted by his policies, including immigrants. The next day, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement decrying Trump’s executive orders on immigration and other matters as “deeply troubling,” saying they “will have negative consequences.”