JCPA Statement on Supreme Court Immigration Decisions

In response to today’s Supreme Court decisions on immigration, Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, released the following statement:

Today’s Supreme Court decisions further advance the administration’s dehumanizing and draconian immigration policies, jeopardizing the lives of countless families who are simply in search of safety and opportunity.

In the first decision, Mullin v. Al Otro Lado, the Court blessed the administration’s decision to deny refugees fleeing violence or persecution their legal right to even apply for asylum. The second, Mullin v. Doe, allows the administration to uproot hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian immigrants who are here legally under the Temporary Protected Status designation.

Make no mistake: this is the same cruelty that shut out Jews fleeing the Holocaust not very long ago. As Jews who have experienced both persecution and the hope of safety in America, we know that closing our door to those in need abandons our fundamental values — while advancing a dangerous, extremist agenda that threatens all of us.

At the core of these policies are white supremacist, xenophobic, racist, and antisemitic conspiracy theories that have fueled violence against not only immigrants, but Jews, Latinos, Black people, and so many others in recent years — including the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in U.S. history, in Pittsburgh in 2018.

These decisions are devastating for anyone who believes in basic dignity and humanity, and we will continue to fight for smart, humane immigration policies that advance our values and our shared safety.