Ahead of election, liberal-leaning Jewish groups decry ‘xenophobia’ and ‘hate’ toward immigrants

An array of liberal-leaning Jewish groups, including the rabbinic associations of American Judaism’s two largest denominations, joined 500 Jewish clergy in calling out “an election season defined by xenophobia, fear, and lies.”

The statement released Wednesday by HIAS, the lead Jewish immigration advocacy group, appeared to be a thinly-veiled reference to Donald Trump’s rhetoric on immigration. It was unusual in delivering a stark political message primarily aimed at one of the two nominees with early voting already underway.

“In an election season defined by xenophobia, fear, and lies, we pledge to stand firmly in solidarity with refugees and asylum seekers and to advocate for their rights and safety,” said the statement, signed by the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly, Reform Central Conference of American Rabbis, Union for Reform Judaism, National Council of Jewish Women, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Reconstructing Judaism movement and T’ruah, a liberal rabbinical human rights group, as well as more than 500 clergy.

“We call on all candidates to reject the politics of hatred and fear, to reject the impulse to seal our borders and turn on our own neighbors and community members,” the statement said. 

The statement did not name former president Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, but he and his running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, have made a crackdown on illegal immigration a centerpiece of their campaign. They and their allies have promised, per the language of the 2024 Republican platform, “the largest deportation operation in American history.”

Trump has discussed placing the migrants in camps before they are deported. He has also falsely accused Haitian immigrants of eating their neighbors’ pets and has spotlighted crimes committed by individual migrants.

American Jews have historically been on the front lines of immigration advocacy, often motivated by their families’ own immigrant histories. Major Jewish groups in recent decades have advocated for immigrant rights and reform of the immigration system. When Trump was in office, a range of large Jewish groups across the denominational spectrum criticized some of his most contentious immigration policies, such as the 2017 travel ban on a number of Muslim-majority countries.

Both candidates propose stricter immigration policies

Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, has also proposed tougher immigration measures, vowing to back a bipartisan immigration reform bill that would have cut down on border crossings, among other restrictive measures. Trump urged Republicans to oppose the bill, both because he said it did not go far enough and because he reportedly did not want to hand the Biden administration a legislative win on immigration in an election year.

The HIAS statement recommended several provisions that were in the bill. It advocated repairing the asylum system, establishing border policies that are humane while protecting US security, and expanded pathways to legal entry and residency, among other policies.

The other signatories were Women of Reform Judaism; Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, a social justice group; Jewish World Watch, a group monitoring genocide; Keshet, an LGBTQ rights group; the Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies; and the New York Jewish Agenda, a liberal policy group.