Agudath Israel of America expresses its very deep concern and disappointment over the recently adopted policy of separating the members of families who have entered the United States illegally. It is a practice that has caused, and will continue to cause, profound suffering and pain to both parents and children. We implore that the policy be immediately rescinded, and that affected families be reunited.
The problem of illegal immigration is a serious one, and we support reasonable efforts by the administration and legislature to effectively stem the flow of would-be immigrants who have not been accepted through the legal immigration system.
But the United States, a shining beacon of freedom in the world, must always exhibit humanity and compassion in its laws and policies. Seeking to enforce our statutes does not relieve us of this moral obligation. The extreme anguish, fear and trauma born of separating undocumented immigrant family members, which is particularly harmful to children, deeply offend our highest values. It is wrong and unjustifiable.
As Jews, we find this practice particularly loathsome. For millennia, Jews in the diaspora have suffered many forms of persecution, including — among the most tragic — the forced breakup of our families. It is a punishment that neither parents nor children should ever have to endure.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
19 Responses
Yiyasher kochacha
Typical AI, showing how irrelevant it has become. The families are separated because the kids are allowed into the US and the parents aren’t. If families would stop showing up at the border knowing full well the adults wouldn’t be allowed in, there would be no problems.
Kids are getting split up because of laws that don’t allow them to be held longer than around 20 days. Laws that liberals put into place. No such law for adults, so the adults stay, and the kids are forced to go. Typical liberal logic to get the adults out also.
Where was the aguda when this law was passed in the 90’s?
Where was the aguda when this was going on under the faces of our past few presidents?
All liberal political garbage.
Agudath Israel of America needs to have a consultation with Sean Hannity:- They will very quickly learn, that this entire saga is solely & exclusively the fault of the Democrats, and the quicker the Democrats get their act together {if they are capable of such a thing} the quicker this sad saga shall be behind us.
Rebbe yid, you make it sound as if the system a full moral right to do so, well it is very sad that you yourself as a jew have such a approach, you wouldn’t like your child (if you have one) to be taken away from you under absolutely no circumstances, there is more human ways to deal with this and I think the system is smart enough to come up with a reasonable way of enforcing the law…refua shlema rebbe yid.
The parents (if they even are their parents, as many are not and are just trying to con their way into the US) are being separated from the kids BECAUSE THEY BROKE THE LAW. News flash!!! If you break the law, you will be separated from your kids! It’s that simple. Booyah! End of discussion. Hey AI, why don’t you endorse THAT as a solution? DON’T BREAK THE LAW!!!
BTW, when did AI go liberal-stupid? Do they not understand that these people flooding our borders are from countries where the hatred of Jews runs at the froth-at-the-mouth type of levels? Ask ANY Jew from those countries what it’s like. They’ll tell you. Perhaps it’s just that the leadership of AI is naive enough to think that they’ll remain safe in THEIR neighborhoods but for the rest of us, well, we’re not IMPORTANT people anyway.
The Agudah’s positions are determined by the Moetzes. I have known people in the hanhalah of the Agudah. They go strictly by Torah hashkafas. If you are criticizing their position on this you are criticizing the position of the Agudah’s Council of Torah Sages. If doing that doesn’t bother you, then by all means express your disagreement, but do it with derech eretz.
lieberal righteous judgement
neither would i like if my child would be arrested for drug pushing, theivery etc. these comparisons are really immature.
i wont even like if i was rrested for crimes i commit
SO stop arresting, huh
Beautiful and heartning statement by Agudas Yisrael of America. It is a real chizuk to see a statement expressing eternal Torah values regarding this most important matter. A true kiddush Hashem.
Equally important is for us to recognize what should be an obvious truth, that the values of Hannity, Rush and right wing talk radio are not synonymous with Torah true values.
Yasher Koach Agudas Yisrael!
One point is missing from the statement and can be added. “We call on President Trump to take action to stop the heinous practice. Republicans control both houses of Congress so stop blaming Democrats and get to work fixing the problem.”
The parents are almost saying like in the Torah, the woman who was not the mother of the child in front of King Solomon, Shlomo ,
“yes, cut the child in half”. This is how much they care!
Supporting the “Hate-crimes” bill is a lot worse.
Why AI? Watch how liberals begin to conflate this awful immigration situation with the Holocaust. IT IS NOT THE SAME. This immigration crisis is a tragedy but it is self-imposed – illegally entering the US and endangering your children and then getting rewarded with citizenship is UNJUST – we need the balance between compassion and justice – otherwise we will reap the consequences of open borders. We do need new laws – Good luck President Trump.
Completely inappropriate and frankly ignorant for the AI to make this nonsensical statement. Guess what, Agudah: when adults are criminals, their kids may get separated from them!
It is sad that despite the shocking images and horrifying audio of wailing children ripped from their parent’s arms at the southern border so many commentators above choose to condemn the basic human sentiment expressed in the Agudah statement and instead parrot right-wing propaganda. America is a benevolent country and that is why the vast majority of Americans oppose Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy. It is why true Republican stalwarts like Laura Bush, Mitt Romney and NRCC Chair Steven Sivers and many others have condemned Trump’s policy. As Jews, We are a nation of ‘rachmanim, bayshanim and gomlei chasdim”‘ have so many sold their souls to Trump?
With agudah strong stand here i begin to wondet what they would say to a modern day rule of* ihr haneedachas* which includes killing innocent children?
I honestly understand all your points in favor of doing this to families of poor goyshe families that in most cases they never get the opportunity to work hard and be able to give their families food and education in their countries in which they have their hands tied in the slavary of those countries, and coming legally is impossible for them, so they are forced to looked for better future, However the US is doing their own into protecting their boarders and they are entitled to do so, but us like yidden shouldn’t have any psak in this manner leave this fight for the goyim themselves, because we alone are immigrants and being citizens doesn’t really have so much weight for a jew since that itself could be changed from one day to the other with an antisemite bill, the same way a Mexican could get deported back to Mexico, us yidden in the US could also get deported to Israel in the best case, definitely the Mexican would have it a lot better than the jew …
This is my opinion regarding all this
crazykanoiy – you have it 100% right. We have allowed ourselves to be persuaded that the values of the right-wing talk radio hosts are somehow compatible with Torah values. Hannity, Limbaugh, etc. are not Jews, know nothing about Torah values, and have shown themselves to have bad judgment in their personal lives. (Married four times? Give me a break.)
We have let the talk-show commentators/entertainers take over our moral compass, allowing someone like Limbaugh, a failed sportscaster turned radio comedian, tell us how we should think about political and social issues.
We’re Torah Jews, rachamim bnei rachamim, bayshanim, and when we start ranting to show our “courage to take on liberal PC” all we’re doing is showing how gullible we are to anybody who can buy air time.
Agudah only advocates what it is told to do by its Council of Torah Sages (R’ Kamenetzky, R’ Feldman, R’ Perlow, etc.) and when it conflicts what “Rav Hannity” and “Rav Rush” say, it’s time we wised up and returned to our own values, not what sells air time to mainstream society.