Author: Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity

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Letter to the Jewish Caucus Concerning the VISION Act

Op-Ed in the Jewish Journal

by Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb
Board Chair of Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity
Berkeley, California

Dear Assemblymembers Jesse Gabriel, Chair of the Jewish Caucus, and all members of the Jewish Caucus,

Next week, the Members of the California Assembly will have the opportunity to vote on a vital piece of legislation called the VISION Act, AB 937 by Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo.

I am one of dozens of Rabbis across the state who have been advocating strongly for this bill, as part of a broad coalition of more than 90 organizations. And I am hopeful that our legislators, including members of the Jewish Caucus, will embrace the VISION Act when it comes up for a vote.

At its essence, the VISION Act is about living up to the sacred standard of equal treatment under the law. Is this not the very heart of Jewish justice?

Yet under the state of California’s current policy, when an immigrant completes their sentence and has done everything…

Read the full article at JewishJournal.com
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East Bay Times: “My father paid his dues but he will be deported next month”

“I am 15 years old and am facing the possibility of losing him permanently. … In 2005, when he was a young man, he had a drug conviction. He was one of the millions affected by the War on Drugs, which disproportionately incarcerated Black and Latinx people. …” Read the full article here.

Hulissa Aguilar, 15, of San Leandro, is a ninth-grade student at Arroyo High School. She is also a youth leader with the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, a statewide organization working to end the criminalization of people of color in our immigration and incarceration systems.

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Our Vision for Immigration Reform in 2021

  1. Citizenship for Eleven Million.  That includes all eleven million, and is without exclusions of those who may have been deported and reentered, or those with past convictions or other bases of exclusion; but expresses values of family unity, belonging, and redemption.
  2. Community, not Cages. 
    1. Close immigration detention centers, both private and public, starting with the #First10, including Adelanto and Mesa Verde in CA, family detention, and several southern detention facilities.  
    2. Recognize rights of asylum seekers, families and children. Create a robust reentry program (not housed under ICE and DHS) of support and care, not detention.  We have the resources to recreate a new approach.
    3. Promote alternative strategies to large immigrant children’s shelters and facilities.
    4. Drastically reduce spending on militarization of the border, deportations and enforcement. Redirect to community needs.
  3. Root Causes. A critical look at root causes, such as the failed neoliberal economic model, failure to respect indigenous rights, and significant role of US weapons and militarization. (See the eight-page 2019 Honduras Root Causes report, with policy recommendations, created by IM4HI, SHARE, Sisters of Mercy, LCWR. PDF here. )