WASHINGTON – As the Senate continues negotiations over President Biden’s supplemental funding request this week, T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights expressed concern that critical asylum protections are being placed on the table as a bargaining chip to secure more funding for Ukraine.
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah, said:
“We are disturbed that Senate Republicans are demanding extreme lasting changes to immigration policy as part of a one-time supplemental funding bill. These policy shifts would gut our already frail asylum system. We are also dismayed that President Biden has said that, in exchange for military aid, he is willing to support heightening standards for initial asylum screenings, denying asylum to migrants who pass through another country before entering the U.S., and expanding a fast-track deportation process.
“The deal in discussion would create near impossible barriers to apply for asylum, and undermine humanitarian and other forms of parole. We emphatically urge Congress not to formalize any third country transit bans or other policies that would allow for turning away asylum seekers without a screening. We are grateful for the leadership of Senator Alex Padilla and Representative Nanette Barragán in taking a principled stance and issuing statements opposing this deal. We also urge President Biden to follow through on his promise to restore a ‘fair and humane’ immigration system.
“To forcibly tie aid to Ukraine and permanent changes to asylum policy together is to do a fundamental disservice to asylum seekers. This attempt to pit a vital U.S. interest abroad and an indispensable human rights need against each other cheapens the role of U.S. moral leadership on both issues. It harms those trying to seek safety, and moves us further away from meaningful asylum reform that could utilize more robust funding to expedite processing of asylum seekers and reduce the backlog for work authorization.”
“The Torah teaches the obligation to extend love and care to people from outside our home society: ‘You shall love this person as yourself, for you were gerim [foreigners] in the land of Egypt.’ (Leviticus 19:34). As Jews, many of our own families fled danger to find refuge in the U.S., and we know from experience that immigration policy can be a matter of life and death. Our tradition further instructs us that the highest level of charity is to assist a needy person by helping them to find employment (Mishnah Torah 10:7-14). These theological foundations are what motivate us to advocate strongly for protecting asylum seekers’ ability to make safe passage and find fruitful economic opportunities here.”
About T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights mobilizes a network of more than 2,300 rabbis and cantors from all streams of Judaism that, together with the Jewish community, act on the Jewish imperative to respect and advance the human rights of all people. Grounded in Torah and our Jewish historical experience and guided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we call upon Jews to assert Jewish values by raising our voices and taking concrete steps to protect and expand human rights in North America, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories.
