Boston Workers Circle, a 125 year old Massachusetts Jewish organization, was founded by and for immigrants for the purpose of supporting each other. Throughout our history, up to and including the present day, our immigrant members have been core to our community, and integral to making BWC vibrant and strong.

Boston Workers Circle is deeply alarmed by the Trump administration’s overstepping and unconstitutional executive orders which callously disregard human rights, due process, and the rule of law. We fear that the United States government is ushering us into a very dark, cruel, and racist period, one lacking humanity and basic civil rights, replete with violations of international law.

We are particularly disturbed by plans for mass deportations, mass detentions, and the resumption of family separations, as well as the planned cessation of rights to sanctuary and asylum for people fleeing violence, including in countries exploited and destabilized by the U.S. itself. The Administration will now allow ICE to carry out raids in our schools, hospitals, and places of worship, creating a climate of extreme fear.

Trump’s executive orders call for the use of the death penalty, indefinite detention, and vilification of people based on their ethnic origin. The administration is removing many existing legal protections—and is even changing the definition of who is a U.S. Citizen to reflect a White Christian Nationalist agenda. Boston Workers Circle members, past and present, know what it is like to be vilified, scapegoated and cut out of the definition of whose safety matters.

As a community whose history is inextricably linked with the history of migration to this country, we are committed to supporting our immigrant members, and joining with our immigrant neighbors, to build a United States where all of us are able to live with safety, freedom and dignity.