We strongly oppose the Trump Administration’s “public charge” proposed rule, a change to an immigration statute that would limit entry of low-income immigrants into the United States and penalize current immigrants who receive public benefits.
Published in the Federal Register today, the proposal is open to public response for the next 60 days (until Dec. 30), and we are mobilizing our network of 2,000 rabbis and cantors to oppose this change. It is immoral to weaponize public assistance programs to promote a white nationalist vision of America without immigrants.
The sin of Sodom, per biblical clues and rabbinic literature, concerned the abuse of foreigners. The Talmud describes the people of Sodom passing ordinances forbidding the entry of outsiders, whom residents feared came only to deplete their resources. A woman who dared to break the law and to feed a hungry person was executed in a brutal fashion. In Sodom, the law demanded unjust and immoral practices. In fact, the Talmud names the four judges of Sodom with names that roughly translate to “Liar,” “Perpetual Liar,” “Forger,” and “Perverter of Justice.”
This rule change proposed by the Trump Administration would establish new criteria for categorizing an individual as a “public charge” and require the government to consider in applications for lawful immigration status any non-cash benefits received. The change applies to immigrant applicants and to any of their dependent family members — including U.S. citizen children.
The policy would confer to immigration authorities enormous discretion over the categorization, while codifying a substantially expanded definition of “public charge” to include any person who uses public benefits for which they are eligible, such as Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and federal housing assistance.
The consequences of this proposed change would be devastating: The New England Journal of Medicine has published projections that passage of the new rule may result in 1 million people losing their health insurance coverage. The policy penalizes and pathologizes poverty, and it is just the latest in the administration’s attempts — including the Muslim ban, zero tolerance and family separation, increased targeting and deportations by ICE, and investigation of naturalized citizens — to terrify the entire immigrant community.
T’ruah Executive Director Rabbi Jill Jacobs said, “As Jews, we will not be silent while this morally bankrupt administration tries to force families to choose between feeding and housing their children and living together with them in safety. Our country is acting as another Sodom: A place that passes laws forbidding humane treatment of those seeking refuge here and where injustice masquerades as rule of law.”
We call on our country to stop acting like Sodom and to instead take a compassionate and moral approach to the immigrants and asylum seekers among us.
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights mobilizes a network of more than 2,000 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.
To learn more or to speak with T’ruah Executive Director Rabbi Jill Jacobs, contact Julie Wiener at jwiener@truah.org or (212) 845-5201.