“Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” (Proverbs 31:9)

In A Day Without a Mexican, we see dramatically what would happen if everyone of Hispanic origin disappeared from California. Although this movie was released two years ago, it is especially timely as Congress evaluates plans for immigration reform.

We often forget that we are all (yes, even the Native Americans) immigrants who came from somewhere else–maybe in our own generation, maybe four generations ago, maybe a hundred generations ago.

I find the term “illegal workers” insulting; they are undocumented, and they’ve done what my great-grandparents did, which was that they used any method possible to create a better life for their themselves and their children. When President Bush says that undocumented workers do the work that Americans won’t, what he really should say is that globalization and rampant unchecked capitalism has created a demand for cheap goods produced at costs that do not reflect a living wage and that our shitty policy is to wink at illegal workers and let them do it for less than they deserve.

You can tell a lot about a country by how the weakest members are treated. And we’re not seeing anything that could be called generous or decent. It’s exploitative. We’re seeing policy by fear and policy by greed.

The Virtual Talmud has also been reflecting on the on immigration reform:

As Jews, we know what it is like to be strangers. Our whole religion is built upon this essential ethical leitmotif: Love the stranger, for you were strangers in the Land of Egypt. We are to make sure the stranger is treated fairly, because we know what it is like not to be. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, which is why more synagogues should be joining other faith-based organizations to offer food and other aid to the illegal immigrants we see suffering within our midst.