http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/cultura_sociedad/2010/02/100205_0549_eeuu_hispanos_judios_reforma_migratoria_jrg.shtml

Marcia Facundo (translated by AJC volunteer Vanessa Coriat)

BBC Mundo, Los Ángeles

In the middle of the fight to make this the year when comprehensive immigration reform gets approved, a political alliance between Hispanics and Jews has bloomed in the United States.

What for many seems to be an improbable alliance between two communities that have never before shown common interest, and with very different trajectories, is offering some results.

When the approval of the immigration reform gets complicated, two key players in this fight are in the Capitol.

The Congressman Luis Gutierrez has already presented a proposal in Congress.

Meanwhile, New York democrat, Senator Charles Schumer, of Jewish origin, is working on a similar project in the Senate.

United Work

But the alliance is also felt at a local level, where Jewish and Hispanic community leaders are working together to regularize the status of millions of undocumented immigrants.

“We believe that immigrants enrich this nation economically and culturally,” said Seth Brysk, director of the Los Angeles office of the American Jewish Committee (AJC for its abbreviation in English) to BBC World.

Brysk was one of the main speakers at the launching ceremony of an organized offense to achieve the approval of immigration reform that was celebrated this past January in Los Angeles.

“An immigration policy that is just and generous reflect our highest values and is an affirmation of the principles on which this country was founded”, he said this Thursday to BBC World.

Brysk noted that it is part of the Jewish tradition to “welcome and appreciate the stranger, because once we were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

He explained that since they are also immigrants, mostly first and second generations, “American Jews have a sense of duty towards those who run away from persecution, want to reunite with their family members, or want to participate in the freedom and opportunities that this nation offers.”

For the Jewish community, immigration reform would be beneficial because the resources that are now spent prosecuting people who want to become residents of this country and make a contribution, could be used to strengthen the security measures against terrorist threats..

A strong alliance

 “For the Hispanic community, the support of the Jews is highly valuable,” assured to BBC World Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for the Human Rights of the Immigrants in Los Angeles (CHIRLA for its abbreviation in English)

The coalition participates in a Jewish-Latino round table that is developing diverse activities in this city.

Salas- who defines the relationship between the two communities as “a strong alliance”- explained that the Jewish community “is a strong religious group, organized in its foundation of faith, that has had a lot of experience in how to fight against groups that haven’t admitted them as part of this nation.”

Moreover, “it is very influential in our country. It has strong connections in Congress that help us work in our agenda.”

But Salas also emphasized the positive results of the alliance in the social aspect within the community.

In June of 2009, the Ford Foundation granted AJC US$500,000 for an initiative with the goal of creating a drive in favor of immigration reform.

As a result, AJC has organized a series of round tables to debate the issue of undocumented immigrants and the ways their situation can be resolved.