June 5, 2018 — Austin, Texas
Chariman Anchia, members of the caucus, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this morning about these critical issues. For over 110 years, my organization, AJC has played a pivotal role in advocacy and human relations. As the preeminent Jewish organization engaged in Jewish-Latino relations, we have been at the forefront of coalition building around our shared interests and common concerns for well over a decade. It is an honor that this morning I have been joined by a number of members of our Jewish/Latino Alliance. A coalition that unites our leaders in pursuit of our many common goals to address shared concerns, from education, to combating antisemitism and racism, to immigration.
AJC backs immigration reform that would secure the nations borders while offering a humane alternative to the limbo in which 11 million undocumented immigrants find themselves today. We support viable and efficient pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and we call for reforms to address future flows and current backlogs in our immigration system. In particular, we deplore the current administration’s cancellation of DACA- a program that was designed to protect from deportation young, undocumented immigrants brought to this country as children.
AJC rejects the cooption of state and local authorities to enforce immigration policy, since it may lead to racial profiling or other discriminatory practices, and we assert the exclusive power of the federal government to enforce immigration law and secure our boarders.
We urge increased support for the civic and economic integration of all immigrants. We applaud the City of Dallas for opening its office of Welcoming Communities and Immigrant affairs, of which I am proud to serve on the task force and co-chair its Leadership and Communications Subcommittee. Other local governments would be well-served to create similar offices.
The passage of SB 4 in the last session makes this work especially important. There is much work that needs to be done in building trust between our immigrant communities and the local government. The impact of SB 4 has been to erode trust in our local institutions. Our state would be well-served to eliminate it in the next session, and in doing so reaffirm the exclusive jurisdiction over these matters by the federal government. Immigration enforcement is not and should not be under the purview of state and local authorities.
The administration’s policy of separating undocumented children from their parents is cruel. A society that upholds family values, and recognizes the contributions of immigrants have made and continue to make to American life, must find a better way to secure the border. Recently, AJC and other Jewish organizations signed on to a letter to A.G. Sessions and Secretary of Homeland Security Nielson on this issue. I have copies with me for your review and ask that it be added to the record as well.
Much has been made in the news lately of the nearly 1500 “missing” children who after being separated from their parents were placed with sponsors. Attempts to politicize what may amount to non-responsiveness by sponsor families to contact attempts from authorities take focus away from the fundamental issue – the cruel separation of children from their parents.
By the way, Similar fears will come into play if the proposed questions about immigration status make it onto the next census, as is currently the plan. This is not just bad for the families who choose not to respond, it is bad for Texas as we run the risk of not receiving adequate services or accurate representation in congress.
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” These words, which I suspect most of us could utter by heart, were written 135 years ago by Jewish poet and refugee advocate Emma Lazarus and reflect our nations deep-seated values- values that have inspired generations of immigrants to seek out a better life by coming to America to be a part of what Ronald Reagan (by way of Pilgrim John Winthrop) called “That shining city on the hill.”
In his farewell address, Reagan stated, “I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still.”
Now, more than ever we need our lawmakers, at every level to listen to their constituents and ensure that our great nation remains the compassionate, welcoming beacon of freedom that has inspired so many. We can have security and safety; it need not require us to abandon what must remain America’s defining characteristics.
