immigration jews

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7/30/2019 Immigration Jews http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/immigration-jews 1/4 The United States is a nation built by immigrants, beginning with the frst European settlers. Each successive wave o immigration has challenged Americans to reconsider and expand their defnition o who is American, rom the German immigrants o the early 19th century, the  Jewish and Mediterranean immigrants o the early 20th century, to the Arican, Indian, and Mexican immigrants o the late 20th century. Many laws -- including the Chinese Exclusion Act o 1882 and the Immigration Act o 1924 -- restricted the number o immigrants who were not rom Northern or Western Europe. These quotas were designed to keep out racial and cultural “undesirables,” such as Asians, Jews, and Italians. Current law provides or three primary categories o people eligible to immigrate to the U.S.: Individuals seeking to rejoin amily members People who possess certain work skills Those who seek entry or humanitarian reasons (i.e. reugees) Roughly one million legal immigrants are admitted to the U.S. each year.  The Institute or Jewish Leadership and Values o Immigration “When strangers sojourn with you in your land, you shall not do them wrong. The strangers who sojourn with you shall be to you as the natives among you, and you shal love them as yourself; for you wer strangers in the land of Egypt” - Leviticus 19:3 Immigration History From the beginning o America’s history, American attitudes towards immigration have diered between hospitality and hostility – between the impulse to welcome new immigrants and the desire to limit immigration to protect the interests o those already here.  16% 14%  10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% 1850 1890 1910 1950 1970 2010 U.S. Foreign-born Population 12% Is immigration beneficial or detrimental to the United States? Some argue that because it is perceived that immigrants are willing to work or less money than American citizens, their presence artifcially orces wages down and that immigrants take jobs that citizens would otherwise fll. Proponents o immigration assert that most immigrants take jobs that are so menial and low paying that most Americans would not accept them anyway, and that the low-cost labor that immigrants provide helps to keep many small U.S. companies in business. Some advocates or limiting immigration claim that those immigrants n arriving rom places like Asia and Latin America are not assimilating. Social and economic conditions in the U.S. play an important role in determining the openness o America’s borders. Immigrants are oten used as scapegoats during times o economic hardship.

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Page 1: Immigration Jews

7/30/2019 Immigration Jews

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/immigration-jews 1/4

The United States is a nation built by immigrants, beginning with

the frst European settlers. Each successive wave o immigration has

challenged Americans to reconsider and expand their defnition o who

is American, rom the German immigrants o the early 19th century, the

 Jewish and Mediterranean immigrants o the early 20th century, to the

Arican, Indian, and Mexican immigrants o the late 20th century.

Many laws -- including the Chinese Exclusion Act o 1882 and the

Immigration Act o 1924 -- restricted the number o immigrants who were

not rom Northern or Western Europe. These quotas were designed to keep

out racial and cultural “undesirables,” such as Asians, Jews, and Italians.

Current law provides or three primary categories o people eligible to

immigrate to the U.S.:

Individuals seeking to rejoin amily membersPeople who possess certain work skills

Those who seek entry or humanitarian reasons (i.e. reugees)

Roughly one million legal immigrants are admitted to the U.S. each year.

 The Institute or Jewish Leadership and Values o 

Immigration“When strangers sojourn with

you in your land, you shall not

do them wrong. The strangers who

sojourn with you shall be to you as

the natives among you, and you shal

love them as yourself; for you wer

strangers in the land of Egypt”

- Leviticus 19:3

Immigration History

From the beginning o America’s history, American attitudes towards immigration have dieredbetween hospitality and hostility – between the impulse to welcome new immigrants andthe desire to limit immigration to protect the interests o those already here. 

16%

14%

 

10%

8%

6%

4%

2%

0%

1850 1890 1910 1950 1970 2010

U.S. Foreign-born Population

12%

Is immigration beneficial or detrimental to the United States?Some argue that because it is perceived that immigrants are willing to work

or less money than American citizens, their presence artifcially orces wages

down and that immigrants take jobs that citizens would otherwise fll.

Proponents o immigration assert

that most immigrants take jobs that

are so menial and low paying that

most Americans would not accept them

anyway, and that the low-cost labor

that immigrants provide helps to keep

many small U.S. companies in business.

Some advocates or limiting immigration claim that those immigrants n

arriving rom places like Asia and Latin America are not assimilating.

Social and economic conditions in the U.S. play an important role in

determining the openness o America’s borders. Immigrants are oten

used as scapegoats during times o economic hardship.

Page 2: Immigration Jews

7/30/2019 Immigration Jews

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Refugees 

Under U.S. law a reugee is defned as a person who has a

“well-ounded ear” o being persecuted or reasons o race, religion,

nationality, or membership (or perceived membership) in a particular

social or political group, AND who is unable (or too araid) to seek the

protection o his or her country o nationality.

There are somewhere between 12-15 million people worldwide who

can be classifed as reugees, most o whom come rom countries withrepressive political regimes where internal conict has put them in

danger. The President, in consultation with Congress, determines how

many reugees will be admitted each year. In the years ollowing the

September 11th attacks, the U.S. admitted between 25,000-75,000

reugees each year, down rom over 120,000 per year in the 1990s.

Immigration Reform

Enorcement advocates argue that the illegal immigrant issue

could be resolved through stronger border security, enorcement

o existing laws, and measures that discourage people without

documentation to enter or stay in the U.S.

Comprehensive reorm advocates argue that stronger

enorcement must be accompanied by providing more paths

to legal immigration. They argue that it is unrealistic and

economically unwise to detain and deport millions o individuals

who are here without documentation and that the government

should provide a way or those already here to earn citizenship.

Advocates on both sides o the immigration debate agree that

the current system is “broken.” Approaches to reorm generally

all into the categories o “comprehensive” or “border security

and enorcement-only.”

Illegal Immigration

Much o the recent ocus on immigration has been on people who

enter the United States without proper documentation, alternately

reerred to as “undocumented migrants” or “illegal al iens.” In the

1980s, the rising numbers o illegal immigrants, especially rom

Central America, caused widespread concern. In response, Congress

passed the Immigration Control and Reorm Act o 1986, which

granted legal status to aliens who entered the U.S. prior to 1982,

while at the same time stiening penalties or employers hiring

illegal aliens.

There are approximately twelve million individuals currently living in

the U.S. without legal status.

Page 3: Immigration Jews

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Having moved from country to country for

thousands of years, Jews are acutely sensitive

to the moral and historical underpinnings of

immigration. Abraham became the first Jew

when he traveled from the land of his birth to

a new land to begin a new life and a new faith.

Even then, when there was famine in the land

of Canaan both he and his grandson Jacob went

to the more fertile and prosperous Egypt to find

food. Although Jewish life is strongly rooted to

the Land of Israel, Jewish

communities have been planted all over the globe

there are modern day Jewish communities across

the world on nearly every continent. When

previously welcoming nations turned hostile to

their Jewish inhabitants, Jews had to rely on the

generosity of other countries for refuge and a

place to build a new life. Because so many Jews

escaped persecution and found a better life in the

U.S., most American Jews have been strong advocat

for generous immigration policies.

 Jewish Perspectives

Hachnasat Orchim, Hospitality

The sages o the Talmud praised Abraham not only or his

monotheism but or his exceptional hospitality. In Genesis 18,

Abraham rushes to welcome and eed three strangers who appear

in the heat o the day. Following Abraham’s example, they taught

“Let your house be opened wide...on the north, south, east and

west”(Avot d’Rabbi Natan 1:7).

This value could be applied to the opening o our country,

prosperous and spacious, to immigrants rom all corners o the

globe. This value could also be interpreted as requiring us to

ensure that we are able to provide or any guests who are

welcomed to our “home.”

“Rescue the poor and needy”

The ethics o Judaism demand a compassionate approach to the poor,

“Rescue the poor and needy,” pleads the Psalmist. (Psalm 82:4).

According to the Talmud, poverty is the worst disease in the world,

and one o the greatest acts o humanity, equivalent to the ulfllment

o all other commandments, is the giving o charity (Bava Batra 9a).

Like the Jewish immigrants o 1880-1925, most modern immigrants

to the United States seek a better lie and to escape rom poverty.

Some argue that allowing people easy entry into the United States

is a orm o tzedakah, helping them to help themselves.

“You shall not stand idly by”

– Refugees

Reugees, eeing oppression or threat o danger, appeal to our

ethical sensibilities, our sense o justice, and Judaism commands

us to help them: “You shall not stand idly by while your neighbor

bleeds”(Leviticus 19:16).

The prophet Isaiah urged Jews to actively ree the enslaved and

rescue the oppressed:“ Loosen the bonds o wickedness; untie the

bands o the yoke; set the oppressed ree, and break every yoke”

(Isaiah 58:6).

“You shall not return to his master a slave who has escaped. He

shall live with you...in the place that he chooses...you may not

wrong him” (Deuteronomy 23:16). Some argue that just as we may

not return an escaped slave to his master, we also must not return a

person eeing oppression to their country or origin.

Since the time o the Exodus rom Egypt, Jewish values have

dictated concern or reugees:

The limits of responsibility

According to Maimonides, our obligation is frst towards those

immediately around us, then to those in other cities and lands.

(Mishnah Torah, Laws of Charity, 7:13).

Some argue that until poverty is eliminated in America, we are

under no obligation to aid the poor o oreign countries by bringing

them here.

“Let a man be generous in his charities,” warns the Talmud, “but let

him beware o giving away all that he has” (Arakhin 28a).

Judaism commands us to protect the vulnerable and sustain the

needy, to do justice and to strive or righteousness. However, we

are not necessarily obligated to do so at the expense o our own

protection and sustenance, nor are we obligated to import poverty.

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T a k i n ga c t i o n

 There are diferent ways that you can helpaddress the challenges we ace with theimmigration–through service (avodah dcear ),philanthropy (tzedakah dwcv ) and advocacy(tzedek wcv ). Below is a small menu o ideas.

Service/Avodah

Philanthropy/Tzedakah

Advocacy/Tzedek 

Think and Discuss:1) Immigration-related issues divide policy makers and political activists on many ronts. There are tens o thousands o undocumented immigrant teenagers who graduate rom

American high schools each year. Many o these students dream o attending college, yet their immigration status bars them rom many resources (including in-state tuition to local

universities and ederal fnancial aid). Do you think that these high school graduates should have access to fnancial aid? Should it matter which country they are rom or why they arein the U.S.?

2) As American Jews, our understanding o the history o America’s immigration policy includes events such as the turning away o the Jewish passengers aboard the ship the St. Louis,

which was sent back to Europe causing most o its passengers to perish in the Holocaust, and then the signifcant number o Soviet Jews who arrived on American shores in the late

1980s and early 1990s. Nevertheless, some Jews do ear that the rate o both legal and illegal immigration has exploded and must be curbed. How do those two events in the history

o Jewish Immigration in America rame your thinking around immigration today? Why should an immigrant ever be turned away?

3) Recent attempts to limit the benefts received by illegal immigrants also raise important ethical questions: Do those who are violating civil law qualiy as “strangers or special

protection and sensitivity”? Is it in the best interest o American citizens to protect their own jobs, quality o lie and incomes by denying services to illegal immigrants? I Americans

deny health services to the children o illegal immigrants, do we violate the all-important commandment o  pikuach nefesh– to save lives at practically any cost?

4) In the age o terrorism, how do we ocus on and enhance America’s sense o security while staying committed to immigrants and reugees? Does our understandable ear o terrorist

attacks and the act that we have tens o thousands o troops stationed in Aghanistan and Iraq justiy a closed door policy towards immigrants in general? What about a closed door

policy or people rom specifc countries? 

dcear

dwcv

wcv

Tutor new immigrants in English.

Form a buddy program at your school or students who have recently

arrived in the U.S.

Volunteer or a local organization that works with reugees.

Contact local immigrant service and reugee organizations to

learn about their needs. Your local Federation’s Jewish Family and

Children’s Services works with reugees o all backgrounds.

Immigrants live in nearly every community in the United States.

When immigrants with reugee status frst arrive, they have only a

ew months to get settled into a home and fnd work beore ederal

fnancial support runs out. Reugee centers seek the generosity

o the community to help care or and settle these amilies. Some

direct service you could provide includes:

Raise money or local organizations that serve immigrantsand reugees.

Donate to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), the Jewish

community’s primary organization working on immigration issues.

Their Young Leaders program has opportunities to get involved.

The ollowing are some advocacy organizations on both sides o the

Immigration debate:

Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (www.hias.org) advocates on behal o 

immigrants and reugees at the international, national and community levels.

HIAS provides advice and counseling, political advocacy, legal representation

and has resettled millions o Jews rom around the world.

National Immigration Forum (www.immigrationforum.org) 

advocates or the value o immigrants and immigration to the nation.

NIF works to aect public policy, uniy amilies, and encourage naturalization.

The Center or Immigration Studies (www.cis.org) studies the

consequences o legal and illegal immigration into the United States.

CIS advocates or a “low-immigration, pro-immigrant” vision o an America

that admits ewer immigrants but aords a warmer welcome or those who

are admitted.

National Council o La Raza (www.nclr.org) is the premier Latino rights

organization. NCLR calls or nondiscriminatory immigration policies at theborders and within the United States. They monitor access and eciency

o naturalization process, and oppose guest worker programs and supports

migrant and seasonal arm workers.