The Open Borders Alliance

Have you ever wondered just why the US media seems to enamored with illegal aliens, and so ready to slander anyone who argues in favor of border enforcement? Or why so many US politicians are deathly afraid of the immigration issue - even though every poll indicates that Americans overwhelmingly support immigration restriction and oppose amnesty for illegals? Well, the reason is the open borders immigration and amnesty for illegals is popular among one small segment of the American population ... but that one small segment is an incredibly powerful one:

Jewish communal support for immigration reform is organized around several principles, including the need for a path to legalization for illegal immigrants; a mechanism for dealing with future immigration waves; speeding up work on family unification; integrating new immigrants into American society; and finding, as Jewish immigration advocates put it, an “effective and humane” way of enforcing immigration laws and border control.

This last point seems to be a growing concern within the Jewish community, said Jane Ramsey, executive director of the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs based in Chicago. Ramsey, whose organization has been working closely with Hispanic groups, stressed that while both communities strongly support immigration reform, there is still a need to instill in members of the Jewish community the importance of the issue, which for most Jews carries a symbolic, not personal, importance.

“Our community is one step removed,” she said, “and therefore it is very important to make it real for people by interacting with the Latino community.”

While the Jewish organizational world is essentially united on this issue, some have argued that the Jewish rank-and-file is not on entirely the same page as communal leaders.

The supposed divide between religious leaders of various stripes and their rank-and-file was the focus of a recent survey, sponsored by the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based group that opposes granting illegal immigrants a path to legalization and instead argues that many will return to their home countries if immigration laws are better enforced. That poll, which was conducted online by Zogby International in December, found that Jews were roughly equally divided between those who prefer a stepped-up enforcement approach and those who prefer granting legal status with a path to citizenship.

Jewish immigration advocates have questioned the survey’s methodology, but they agree that there are diverse opinions within the community. Yet the CIS poll also found that Jews were still considerably more likely than members of other religious groups to support granting legal status to illegal immigrants, a finding that immigration advocates say rings true.

The organized Jewish community is more committed than ever to immigration reform. A letter supporting immigration reform, which will be sent out to all Senate offices in early February, was signed by dozens of national Jewish organizations.

Joining forces with the Hispanic community has been a longstanding goal for Jewish groups. But what seems to be a rare chance to reform immigration laws has helped galvanize the relationship.

The above cited article refers only to a growing Jewish-Latino alliance regarding immigration, but the truth is that American Jews have long agitated for open borders immigration and amnesty for illegals.

Throughout the entire period from the late 19th century to their eventual victory in 1965, Jewish pro-immigration efforts were characterized by strong leadership, generous funding, sophisticated lobbying techniques, well-chosen non-Jewish allies, and good timing. The most visible Jewish activists, such as Louis Marshall, were intellectually brilliant. They were enormously energetic and resourceful in their crusades on behalf of immigration as well as other Jewish causes.

This full court press exerted by Jewish organizations included intense and chilling scrutiny of immigration opponents, such as Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, and of organizations like the Immigration Restriction League. Lobbyists in Washington also kept a daily scorecard of voting tendencies as immigration bills wended their way through Congress. They engaged in intense and successful efforts to convince Presidents Taft and Wilson to veto restrictive immigration legislation.

Much of the effort was done more or less surreptitiously so as not to fan the flames of anti-Jewish sentiment. (Open anti-Jewish feelings were fairly common during this period, stemming from resentment at Jewish upward mobility, the great numbers of leftist political radicals in the immigrant Jewish community, and dislike of the newcomers’ perceived strong ethnic sense.) Jewish organizations supplied the funding for pro-immigration organizations such as the National Liberal Immigration League and the Citizens Committee for Displaced Persons. Non-Jews from eastern and southern European countries were recruited to protest the effects of restrictionist legislation on immigration from those areas.

Jewish opinion is not, naturally, monolithic. A number of prominent Jews have begun to understand the perils of mass immigration to the US, both to the US itself and to Jewish interests. However, Jewish supporters of immigration restriction are relatively few in number, and their influence remains marginalized in the American Jewish community. Thus, the dominant pro-immigration, pro-diversity beliefs held by liberal Jews continue to enjoy widespread prominance in the mainstream media, which is largely dominated by liberal Jews (though one is never, ever supposed to say that out loud). A quick examination of the organizations and individuals advancing open borders immigration, multiculturalism, diversity training and assaults on traditional American culture reveals an overwhelmingly disproportionate Jewish presence. Given the media influence and political power of the American Jewish community, so long as liberal Jews continue to embrace the pro-immigration/open borders agenda, it will be extremely difficult for immigration restrictionists to make any headway in securing US borders, or reducing immigration - legal or illegal.