Jewish groups join call for ban on religious profiling

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Two Jewish organizations joined the Interfaith Alliance in calling on the US Senate to include a ban on religious profiling in its immigration reform bill.

Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and Nancy Kaufman, CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women, joined other religious leaders in criticizing an immigration reform bill, written by a bi-partisan group of senators nicknamed the “Gang of Eight,” for not including religion or natural origin in its list of items banned as profiling.

“This glaring loophole must be closed,” the Interfaith Alliance wrote in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which currently is reviewing the proposal drafted by the Senate’s Gang of Eight.

“By omitting religion and national origin in this manner, Congress would effectively give law enforcement the go-ahead to target Americans based on these defining characteristics,” the alliance wrote in the letter.

The letter also was signed by Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, and Rev. J. Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.