A bipartisan caucus of Jewish and Hispanic members of the U.S. House of Representatives said a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants should underpin immigration reform. The co-chairs of the Latino-Jewish Congressional Caucus, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), the chairwoman of the House Middle East subcommittee; the Jew Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee; the Jew Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee; and Rep. Xavier Becarra (D-Calif.), a Catholic Mexican, this week said that immigration reform should include a “viable and efficient” path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
A comprehensive immigration reform plan has passed the U.S. Senate.
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) praised the caucus’ statement.
“The Latino-Jewish Congressional Caucus initiative is critically important, emphasizing that both communities [Jews and Hispanics] in the U.S. have been actively advocating for long overdue immigration reform,” Dina Siegel Vann, director of AJC’s Latino and Latin American Institute, said.
Recently, the Jew Mark Hetfield, president and CEO of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), said that “it’s in our strategic interest” to make Americans of European descent a minority.