I have been deeply disappointed by discussions in this paper and their defenses of former President Trump. President Trump has made his key issue in this election the southern border and the supposed threat from illegal immigrants. It is frankly incredibly disappointing that members of this community can defend, and agree, with such rhetoric that is so counter to Jewish and American history and values.
The Torah tells us 36 times to “Love the stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Devarim 19:10). Is the former president’s rhetoric, calling immigrants “rapists,” “criminals” and more, not oppression? Is highlighting the few instances where certain very bad people commit crimes in this country a form of love? Is denying immigrants the right to get into this country, denying the asylum of desperate individuals who want a safe place to live, somehow love and not hate?
Defenders of this view on immigration argue that they do not hate all immigrants, just those who entered illegally. Could any such defenders point to one time, one verse, which reads, “Love the stranger who is among you, except those who crossed the border illegally?” Of course they cannot, because no such exception exists. The biblical verses mention Egypt, but we have been strangers in many places after Egypt. For most of the past 2,000 years, we have been strangers in the land we called home. Many times and places we were welcomed for a while, we were beloved strangers, until eventually we were not. We are the eternal strangers of a people, our ancestors depended on the good will of their neighbors to prevent persecution and expulsion. Are anti-immigration Jewish Americans so lacking in empathy, that 2,000 years of history still leaves them abandoning the stranger?
Even if one believes, as I do, that religion should not decide one’s vote, I implore anti-immigration Jewish Americans to recall the other half of their identity. America is the land of immigrants; we are founded on the basis that anyone from around the world can escape oppression and find opportunity. This paper caters predominantly to people from the New York metro area. Are any readers of this paper unfamiliar with the Grand Colossus who stands in New York Harbor and on whose pedestal reads: “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?” Ignoring that promise is un-American, unpatriotic and shameful.
The history of Jewish America is tied to that statue. Nor are we completely immune when we fail to live up to that promise. America had exceptionally harsh immigration policies in the 1930s and 1940s, and millions could have been spared from the Holocaust if the golden door had remained open. The St. Louis was an attempt by asylum seekers who could not wait for the proper channels due to imminent danger and oppression, to enter America, much like those trying to cross our southern border today. Shall we send back the next ship back the way it came? Should we have had a “remain in Germany” policy? Trump and anti-immigration activists seem to think so.
It is true that we should oppose the current administration’s border policies. It is true that Vice President Harris has unacceptable views of immigration. But this is because she is not tolerant enough of it. If only the border were actually as wide open as pundits say; unfortunately, the process is not. We should be advocating that the Democratic Party revert to its positions from a few years back, encouraging more immigration, not less. And it should be categorically unpalatable that former President Trump and the Republican Party can gain support by being tough on immigration. Immigration and tolerance is what makes America strong, it’s what makes the Jewish people strong, and any Jewish Americans who hold any position other than an open border ought to be embarrassments to both Jews and Americans.
