This past Tuesday evening, twenty-five Shomrei members gathered in the social hall to learn about the national shift in immigration policy and the impact of those policies on the lives of people throughout the nation and in nearby communities. The ad hoc committee responsible for the program felt it was especially timely in light of the upcoming celebration of Passover and the holiday’s focus on freedom and our people’s story of persecution.

The effort was led by Sarah Cortes, who created and delivered the presentation. For those who couldn’t attend, here is how the evening unfolded. 

Andy Silver began the evening with an overview of Shomrei’s history of support for refugees and immigrants through the work of the Refugee Committee, which has been active for ten years supporting families from both Syria and Afghanistan.

Rabbi Julie then spoke, reminding us of the commandment to welcome the stranger, a commandment appearing 32 times in the Torah. She went on to discuss how our tradition has a deep and abiding commitment to justice for the immigrant and refugee. 

Sarah’s presentation focused on the current ‘Enforcement-Only’ approach to asylum and immigration.  Here were some of the key points:

• The Big Beautiful Bill, signed less than one year ago, provides $30 billion in funding to expand ICE, with an additional $45 billion to expand the nation’s detention infrastructure, providing ICE with the largest budget of any law enforcement agency in the nation’s history. 
• ICE has a quota of 3,000 immigrant arrests per day. To meet this quota, we have seen a sevenfold increase in the arrest of people with no criminal convictions and the detention of thousands who were previously following all legal requirements. 
• Currently there are nearly 70,000 people in ICE detention facilities, an 84% increase from the previous year. 76% of the detainees have no criminal background. 
• Right here in New Jersey, 900 people are being held in detention in Delaney Hall in Newark.  Conditions are described as inhumane. Food is largely inedible (spoiled or frozen), the water undrinkable, and there are shortages of basic supplies, such as soap, toilet paper, toothpaste and winter blankets.
• Chronic medical conditions go untreated.

In Roxbury, New Jersey, 35 minutes away from Montclair, a warehouse, designed and built as a storage facility for cargo and freight will house between 1,000 to 1,500 people.  The sale and project was unanimously opposed by the Roxbury Town Council and is opposed by the community.

Sarah ended the presentation with the following principles that,despite politics, we believe we can all agree to:

• Government Accountability: Public agencies must be subject to rigorous oversight.
• Constitutional Fidelity: Every federal agency must adhere to the Constitution and the Rule of Law. 
• Fundamental Human Dignity: No person in the custody of the United States should be denied medical care, access to legal counsel, or basic necessities like food and water. 

The committee is now considering ways to take action.

If you want to learn more and become part of this effort please reach out to: 

Sarah Cortes, 

Audrey Levitin,