Policy Resolution
July 22, 2026
The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington has issued three prior policy resolutions concerning immigration, in 1995, 2008 and 2017. Each stressed the need for humane application of immigration laws and cited biblical commandments concerning respect and love for the stranger. When we first addressed the issues over 30 years ago, our immigration system was broken. It has remained broken ever since.
This Policy Analysis and Resolution explains how conditions have deteriorated further and how current laws, policies, detention and enforcement practices violate the principles we have long advanced.
JCRC “endeavors to foster a society based on freedom, justice and democratic pluralism” and “determines a consensus on the broad range of public policy issues central to Jewish conscience… to advocate for Jewish institutions and values.” (1) [Emphasis added].
One such value is to love the stranger. That commandment derives directly from the Torah and is repeated numerous times. One passage, at Deuteronomy 10:19 commands: “Love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Exodus 22:10 goes further in commanding: “You shall not wrong or oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” For most of our people’s history, until the founding of the modern State of Israel, we have been strangers and our advocacy for the fair treatment of immigrants is informed by that history, our shared experience and our traditions.
But it is not just the Jewish community which is concerned with how immigrants are treated. Religious leaders from many faiths, with whom JCRC often work, have rallied against current immigration detention and enforcement policies, have filed lawsuits, have accompanied migrants to court hearings and have led immigration policy protests. (2)
Indeed, according to the American Immigration Council, a Washington, D.C.-based immigration advocacy organization (AIC), the period since the beginning of 2025, has “arguably seen the most significant changes to U.S. immigration policy in the nation’s history.” (3)
While we raise significant alarms about current immigration policies and practices, the concerns we raise in this Policy Resolution are not solely aimed at or limited to this administration. Our call for more humane immigration policies applies to current and future administrations and Congresses. We believe that immigration laws, policies and practices need to be re-examined comprehensively by the Congress and the executive branch.
To be clear, we do not advocate for open borders nor for abandoning immigration law enforcement. We do advocate that such immigration admittance, detention and enforcement policies be administered legally, fairly and humanely--consistent with the United States Constitution and with the values we espouse.
- ^ JCRC website, jcouncil.org/who.
- ^ National Public Radio, How the clergy has rallied against the Trump administration’s immigration policies, December 24, 2025, https://www.npr.org/2025/12/24/nx-s1-5619298/how-the-clergy-has-rallied-against-the-trump-administrations-.immigration.policies#:~:text=Some%20of%20the%20clergy%20who%20have%20been,detained%20two%20members%20of%20his%20evangelical%20church.
- ^ American Immigration Council, Mass Deportation: Analyzing the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Immigrants, Democracy, and America, July 23, 2025, https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/report/mass-deportation-trump-democracy/.
Policy Resolutions
Based on the foregoing analysis and in keeping with biblical commandments, JCRC resolves:
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To demand that the Congress and executive branch replace our broken immigration system with one that is consistent with the Constitution, more humane and provides fair and reasonable rules, procedures and criteria for establishing a pathway to citizenship for the immigrant community.
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To oppose immigration enforcement in sensitive areas, including in religious institutions, immigration and judicial courthouses, and schools.
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To oppose excessive additional appropriations that would fund inhumane, illegal and unconstitutional ICE enforcement and detention actions.
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To support efforts to provide state and local funding of counsel for immigrants in immigration proceedings, particularly those in detention.
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To oppose public officials’ demonization of immigrants and dehumanizing language that puts immigrants at risk.
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To support giving schools’ the resources that they need to protect immigrant students and keep them safe to ensure that they are ready to respond to ICE enforcement actions at or near their facilities.
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To demand that state and local governments address food insecurity in all communities, including in immigrant communities, which have reached crisis levels particularly in light of the recently passed restrictions on SNAP, and that do not rely entirely on non-profits to do so.
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To oppose the mass deportation and detention of immigrants, and particularly, the goal of establishing specific quotas for detention.
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To support efforts to substantially improve conditions in immigration detention facilities and make them more humane and to ensure that adequate medical care is provided and that all such facilities are decent, safe and sanitary.
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To oppose the construction of additional ICE detention facilities, including the proposed facility in Washington County, Maryland, to the extent that such facilities encourage mass detention of immigrants in violation of the law and due process. JCRC recognizes the importance of housing properly and legally detained persons in close proximity to their homes and their legal counsel, which may, in limited circumstances, require new facilities, provided however, that any new facilities must be decent, safe and sanitary and consistent with the values we espouse.
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To oppose the use of non-judicial warrants to enter homes and other places where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy and to support efforts to require the use of only judicially issued warrants in such circumstances and to otherwise adhere to recognized Fourth Amendment standards.
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To support efforts to bring immigration agents who commit violence to justice, to ban masks, to require immigration agents to clearly display their identity and to support the use of body cameras with immigration agents.
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To support codifying reasonable use-of-force standards for immigration agents that are applicable to other law enforcement agencies.
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To support efforts to terminate the use of Section 287(g) agreements.
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To oppose the practice of timing arrests of immigrants to coincide with the dismissal of their immigration proceedings.
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To oppose the Trump administration’s refugee resettlement policies and to support efforts to overturn these policies in the courts.
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To support extension of TPS status for individuals from countries, including El Salvador, where conditions or circumstances prevent such countries from safely handling their return.
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To oppose any unreasonable and unduly burdensome requirements for those engaged in a legal path to permanent residency and/or citizenship, including the requirement that people applying for a green card must return to their home country in order to apply.
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To support efforts to educate the public about the benefits of immigration to the United States.