I World Border Wars Jewish groups stepping up efforts on the immigration issue. Eric Fingerhut Jewish Telegraphic Agency Washington GO WONDER AROUND. Friday Night Live!: The Kusun Ensemble is an extraordinary group of niSiCla315 and dancers based in Ghana, West Africa. Watch them perform live! Saturday: Try printmaking at the drop-in workshop. Target Family Sundays: Enjoy music from around the world with Gemini. Now on View: Master Pieces: Chess Sets from the Dr. George and Vivian Dean Collection Learning by Line: The Role of Drawing in the Eighteenth Century /VC 1101 Proaralis for;qts arw L1111.73; Af'atrs 3 e , .. DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS 5200 Woodward Ave. 3 - S 3 3 - 7 Keep your company top of mind with our readers. ADVERTISE WITH US! CALL 248.351.5107 Visit JNonline.us A20 February 26 • 2009 I t was the forgotten issue of the general election campaign, with the two presidential candidates barely mentioning it last fall. And with so much focus on the economy, it seems to have receded even more into the background. But Jewish groups aren't letting that stop them from making a big push for comprehensive immigration reform. Many major Jewish groups have signed on to two new initiatives in the past two weeks: a Jewish campaign aiming for "Progress by Pesach" on the immigration issue and the larger Interfaith Immigration Coalition working for the enact- ment of "humane and equitable" reform by the end of this year. While Jewish groups are urging President Obama and Congress to take action, they are focusing much of their attention on education and advocacy efforts in local communities, hoping to see pressure bubble up to Washington from the grass roots. Melanie Nezer, senior director for U.S. programs and advocacy at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, said the key to success in immigration reform is for local activists to let local representatives know how important it is — and that's already starting. "In the last year we've really started hearing from local communities that this is something that needed to be done Nezer said. "We really have the grass roots pushing a lot of this In particular, she said, the impact of immigration raids on local communi- ties — such as the one last May on the Agriprocessors kosher meat plant in Postville, Iowa, which resulted in hun- dreds of arrests — have demonstrated "the fallout" from problematic immi- gration policies "in a very direct way" Postville-like raids are a prime motivator of the Progress by Pesach initiative, in which groups, including HIAS, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the National Council of Jewish Women, the Reform and Reconstructionist movements, and the Conservative movement's Rabbinical Assembly, have joined with local organizations. Among their goals is to get President Obama to issue an executive order or other direc- tive to Immigration and Customs Enforcement curtailing the use of raids as a primary tool of enforce- ment. The organizations are aiming to collect 10,000 signatures by April 8, the first night of Passover, for a petition encour- aging "humanitarian immigration reform" and decrying the "policy of relying on raids and enforcement tactics as the sole means of con- trolling immigration:' Coalition members argue that in addition to denying equal protec- tion to those detained and splitting up families through jailing and deportations, the immigration raids also are expensive for the government and seriously impede businesses trying to make products in a poor economy. Jane Ramsey, executive director of the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs in Chicago, says members of the coali- tion will be encouraged to publicize their petition and letters at their activities and other Jewish community events. Many of the same national organi- zations, along with others, including United Jewish Communities and B'nai B'rith International, are part of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition. The coalition's platform in favor of "humane and equitable" immigration reform by the end of 2009 includes upholding family unity as a priority, creating a process for undocumented immigrants to earn legal status and eventual citizenship, restoring due process protections and reforming detention policies, and aligning the enforcement of immigration laws with humanitarian values. Agriprocessor's raid and aftermath remains a major immigration example.