“The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) is driven by our Jewish values in our support of immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and all those seeking better lives in our nation. The Torah teaches us to welcome the stranger, for once we too were strangers. We also believe in kavod ha’briot – that all people deserve respect and dignity. And we believe that, in any case, government policy should not be made by government officials on anyone’s reading of a sacred text.

“The administration’s misuse of faith to justify cruelly separating families at the border is unconscionable. These same quotes were used in our nation’s history to justify slavery and it is chilling to hear them echoed again in this context.

“In a moment when the House of Representatives is considering two anti-immigrant bills and the administration holds children in increasingly overcrowded detention centers, NCJW will continue to be guided by our Jewish values in our support for Dreamers, children, asylum seekers, LGBTQ immigrants, and all those for whom our nation should be a beacon of hope.”