-----Original Message----- From: Jane Ramsey, JCUA <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:36 am Subject: JCUA to President Obama: End ICE raids Having trouble viewing this page? click here Forward to a Friend | About Us | Donate JCUA to President Obama: End ICE raids, pass fair immigration laws Some 24 hours after Barack Obama took the oath of office to become the United States 44th president, JCUA speakers in Chicago and Washington, DC, issued a demand that the new administration put an immediate end to immigration raids and turn its focus to passage of comprehensive immigration-reform legislation during its first 100 days. Speaking at DC’s Westminster Presbyterian Church to immigration activists and faith leaders from across the nation, Executive Director Jane Ramsey called for support from congregations of all denominations. Drawing from JCUA’s experience in organizing the Jewish and secular communities in support of workers and families impoverished and torn apart by the devastating 2008 ICE raid in Postville, Iowa, she asked clergy and lay leaders to reach out to other congregations, lobby their federal legislators and hold educational programs. “Throughout our history, JCUA has partnered with immigrant communities to fight for quality jobs, housing, education and paths to citizenship, Ramsey said. “The need for our organization and for organizations from other faith traditions to stand up for workers, their families and the communities that are enriched by their presence is greater today than at any time in the past.” Irene Lehrer Sandalow, Director of Outreach and Education, spoke to more than 100 people assembled Wednesday at the “100 Days Countdown Rally” in Chicago’s Federal Plaza to seek an end to raids and deportations. “We are outraged that the U.S. government has taken the needless and harmful approach to fixing its broken immigration system by imprisoning men, women and children who are working to make our country and their families stronger,” she said. “ICE raids don't work -- they do not make our country safer, they do not make our economy stronger and they ultimately are both destructive and counterproductive. “As a human-rights organization based on Jewish values and traditions, JCUA maintains that raids violate our biblical mandate of just treatment for immigrants as found in Leviticus: 'The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.'” To join in JCUA’s campaign for just treatment of immigrants and enactment of comprehensive immigration reform, contact Tom Walsh, (312) 663-0960, ext. 129. Forward to a Friend Get JCUA Emails Questions/Comments Support JCUA If you received this email in error or do not wish to receive future email from the JCUA, click here to unsubscribe --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Internet group address: http://groups.google.com/group/ChicagoMayDay To send e-mail: [email protected] To unsuscribe: [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
