By Rabbi Yael Ridberg & Michael Hopkins
SAN DIEGO — Despite the Executive Order ending the forced separation of families at the U.S.-Mexico border issued by President Trump this week, there is still a humanitarian crisis unfolding for the 2,300 children who have been separated from their parents, with no plan for reunification.
Federal officials cannot answer simple questions about how these children were identified, where their parents are detained and how long they will have to wait to be reunited. Reports of children being flown from the border to New York and moved in the middle of the night under the cover of tarps as they walk to waiting cars are terrifying.
This reality is not an expression of the words inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free …”— Words that are symbolic of the United States’ legacy as a beacon of hope and freedom for any who seek it.
The Executive Order still criminalizes asylum-seekers and does not provide solutions or answers for how families will be kept together in detention. For example, in San Diego, there are no family detention centers and across the U.S., these centers could fill up in days – Where will families go? What will the conditions of those facilities be? Nor does the Executive Order safeguard that asylum-seeking families who cross the border legally will be kept together.
Asylum seekers are people escaping past or future persecution because of race, religion, ethnicity, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. In recent years, thousands who have sought asylum in the U.S. are fleeing from personal threats to their safety and lives in countries like El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
Keeping these families separated is cruel and inhumane. The psychological distress, anxiety and depression, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, is rampant. The U.S. must not practice brutal measures that criminalize seeking asylum, or deny families dignified and respectful treatment.
This separation policy, its ill-considered aftermath and the dehumanizing “Operation Streamline” are the next layer of assault to our immigration system. In addition to the separation of migrant children from their families, consider the recent news of a pizza deliveryman taken into custody by ICE at a Brooklyn Army base, or the synagogue custodian who was deported after living in America for 20 years. DREAMers are still in limbo, and now, according to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, domestic abuse and gang violence are no longer grounds for asylum.
In response to these policies, San Diegans recently formed the San Diego Rapid Response Network, an interconnected system of organizations – convened by the ACLU – that responds to local immigration enforcement activities, including checkpoints, raids, arrests and harassment.
For those of the Jewish faith, more than any other law in the Torah, we are commanded to champion the needs of the vulnerable in society, including the immigrant, the stranger and the foreigner, because we know what it’s like to be the persecuted minority, and the outsider subject to suspicion, prejudice and oppression:
“There shall be one law for you and for the resident stranger; a law for all time – You and the stranger shall be alike before the Lord. The same ritual and the same rule shall apply to you and to the stranger who resides among you.” (Numbers 15:15-16)
Jewish tradition expressly forbids the kind of policies we are witnessing today. Since Jewish Family Service of San Diego was founded 100 years ago, the nonprofit has seen firsthand how newcomers strengthen our social fabric and make San Diego more prosperous and competitive in a changing world.
America was established by refugees and built by generations of immigrants. If America were not a welcoming place, many of us whose families came from other countries can wonder where would we be today?
Our national policies should mirror America’s long history of welcoming immigrants and the teachings of all faith traditions that preach the protection of the vulnerable.
Take action by urging Congress to reunite separated families and ensure their safe care.
Together, we must protect the human rights, safety and well-being of ALL children, with no exceptions. If the Administration cannot reunite these children with their parents, the resulting trauma could last a lifetime. The very character of our nation is at stake.
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Rabbi Yael Ridberg leads San Diego’s Congregation Dor Hadash, a progressive Reconstructionist community. Michael Hopkins is CEO of Jewish Family Service, providing social services, including refugee and immigration services, to San Diegans of all ages, faiths and backgrounds. JFS coordinates all legal services for the San Diego Rapid Response Network.
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