Amidst the sea of suffering the current administration is perpetrating on people here and abroad, I call your attention to anti-immigration legislation in Missouri: SB 58 and SB 72.
SB 58 does a couple of highly problematic and unconstitutional things. First, it would create the “Interstate Compact for Border Security Act,” which gives carte blanche permission for the governor to use Missouri taxpayer funds and state resources to strengthen the inhumane enforcement practices and criminalization of immigration at the country’s southern border. We would be giving border states Missouri taxpayer money.
The other thing it does is make it a crime to exist in Missouri without proper immigration status. Under this proposed law, the state would fine someone who is physically present in Missouri $10,000 and detain them seemingly indefinitely (or until federal agencies take custody) when that person is undocumented. This would lead to rampant racial profiling, since it is impossible to “see” someone’s immigration status. As we’ve seen in other states, this kind of practice emboldens hate crimes, destroys community trust and makes Missouri less safe for all of us.
Immigration is federal law and Missouri has no business meddling in enforcement of complex laws and policies far beyond the scope or authority of our state. Missouri’s resources should be prioritized for making Missouri a more inclusive, equitable home for all.
The bill is very unpopular — several dozen testimonies in opposition to this bill were offered in a recent committee hearing while only three offered in favor of it — but without our voices, it could certainly pass the Senate and might even become law.
SB 72 is the atrocious “bounty hunter” program, which would require the Department of Public Safety to create a system that can receive and track civilian reports of an individual suspected of being unlawfully and physically present in Missouri. The state wants to empower local vigilantes to racially – and perhaps even religiously – profile Missouri residents and report their “sightings” to the police.
If a report leads to an arrest, the “bounty hunter” would be compensated with a $1,000 reward by the state. It also includes language to make existing in Missouri without authorization a felony, punishable by imprisonment without probation or parole.
The recent report released by the Missouri House Special Committee showed that immigrants are far more likely to be victims of horrible crimes rather than criminals. This legislation would lead to more hate crimes and foster an even stronger anti-immigrant, white supremacist culture in our state.
Both of these racist bills fail to recognize a central failure of current immigration law: for more than 20 years, Congress has failed to pass meaningful reform that would create pathways for millions of undocumented immigrants to obtain lawful status. Immigration laws have never adequately responded to the needs of people throughout the world, but rather, have been used as an extension of U.S. foreign policy, economic interests abroad and imperialism. We share responsibility for creating the conditions that force so many people to leave their countries of origin and have facilitated the denial of the right to stay home. We’ve simultaneously created a national narrative of welcome, of an open invitation to the “tired, huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” yet these proposed bills and the outdated federal immigration laws are quick to slam the door in the face of those our faith tradition calls us to welcome.
I have spent my entire career fighting the damage that racism and prejudice does to families, communities and to our collective soul. This is personal for me and for most of us. All four of my grandparents were immigrants escaping religious persecution who had to fight for legal status when quotas made it difficult.
I know that the overwhelming majority of immigrants — including those who are a valued part of our community despite the government’s repeated efforts to deny them an opportunity to seek lawful status, criminalize migration, make unethical exclusions based on country of origin and demonize the differences that make us beautiful — are hardworking people who we count on not only for many, many essential services but also are people that enrich our faith communities and societal wholeness. Despite how immigrants are frequently wrongfully portrayed, I know that immigrants are good people like my grandparents of blessed memory, who are productive members of our communities who have escaped war and famine and political unrest to save their families and build a better future. Denying them their rights is un-American and against the essence of Judaism that teaches us to welcome and love the stranger until they are no longer a stranger but another citizen working to fight antisemitism, and all of the other hate based “isms” designed to divide us.
Both of these bills are truly despicable. They are not what healing and repairing Missouri looks like. Even their introduction has caused harm, fear and trauma in our community.
I call upon the Jewish community and all who value our mandate to welcome the stranger to defeat these bills and all of the legislation that keeps us from being the kind of people, the kind of community that fights hate and fosters love.
As we prepare this Passover to retell the story of our own exodus, we at the Ashrei Foundation are providing many opportunities for all of us to fight this attack on the most vulnerable and take action to honor our ancestors by relieving the suffering of immigrants and refugees today.
