(Editor's Note: Thanks to reader Alan van Capelle, CEO of Bend the Arc, with offices in Southern California for sending in this Op-Ed.)
On behalf of millions of American Jews, Bend the Arc is gratified to see the Supreme Court vote to uphold basic tenets of our Constitution. One of the most repeated lines in the Torah reminds us not to "wrong or oppress the stranger, for we were strangers in Egypt," but Jews in America don’t need to look all the way back to Egypt to understand the profound challenges of migration. Today’s decision is a victory for all those who celebrate the civil rights and freedoms that allowed our ancestors to thrive in America.
I am one of the millions of American Jews whose ancestors came to this country fleeing desperate circumstances or simply seeking a better life in a free nation. American Jews understand deeply that the United States must continue to welcome immigrants because they are the very same people who help to make this country great and who most exemplify the promise of our nation. Arizona’s law put that promise to shame.
We are hopeful that Arizona’s requirement that police check a person’s immigration status will be found unconstitutional in operation and relegated to the dust bin through further legal challenges.
Alan van Capelle, chief executive officer
