Staff Writer

In the past five years, Rabbi Amy Schwartzman's congregation has helped at least four individuals become American citizens.

Fronting the cash needed for lawyers and legal counsel, the Reform Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church has done "all sorts of things" to "take care of the stranger in our midst," Schwartzman says, including offering lessons in English and providing every member of the shul's contracted maintenance workers, the bulk of them immigrants, some form of health insurance.

"With the flaws in the immigration system now, it's the religious community that's carrying the brunt and filling in these empty holes," the rabbi said.

With an eye toward reforming the nation's immigration policy, Schwartzman took to the nation's capital last week to urge the president and lawmakers to finally address the issue.

With fellow rabbis and representatives from Jewish groups and grassroots organizations, Schwartzman joined a press conference in front of the Capitol to demand that both Congress and the Obama administration "fill these empty holes" once and for all by reforming America's draconian immigration policies.

The multipronged coalition, which calls itself Progress by Pesach, formed in early February with the goal of pushing President Barack Obama to issue an executive order or other directive to Immigration and Customs Enforcement curtailing the use of raids as a primary tool of immigration enforcement.

The coalition, spearheaded by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, represents 13 national Jewish agencies, including Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the American Jewish Committee, and more than a dozen Jewish grassroots groups, including the D.C.-based Jews United for Justice.

In addition, rabbis from all four major streams of Judaism, including Schwartzman, joined last week's effort on the Hill, which culminated in the presentation of more than 200,000 signatures to representatives from the Obama administration.

Since its formation, the group had been collecting signatures and expanding its presence by rallying local community organizations and various synagogues to join the initiative, with the ultimate goal being a bottom-up push for reform.

"HIAS has a philosophy that we want to help and assist all Jewish organizations in the country, nationally and locally, to find their own voice on immigration and refugee issues," said Gideon Aronoff, that agency's president and CEO.

After presenting White House officials with the stacks of signatures, Aronoff said that they "made a clear assertion" that instead of performing raids on employees, "they want to focus immigration enforcement on criminals and unscrupulous employers."

Moreover, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitana has promised to review all agency practices regarding how and when immigration raids are conducted.

"It seems absurd that there truly has been a legal emphasis on cracking down" on one of the most vulnerable populations in America, said Rabbi Doug Heifetz of the Reconstructionist Congregation Oseh Shalom in Laurel, who also participated in the meeting with Obama administration officials.

Working on the ground with day laborers in D.C. communities, JUJF bolstered the nationwide effort by collecting signatures and highlighting the issue at its annual Labor Seder in the District.

"So much of the Jewish community came to the U.S. as refugees themselves, and understands what it means to be a stranger in a new country," said Jacob Feinspan, the executive director of JUJF, explaining that the Passover story is a perfect metaphor for the plight of all immigrant populations.

Without an actual immigration bill up for debate in Congress, the group will transition into the second phase of its movement following Pesach. The We Were Strangers, Too campaign will continue to build grassroots support in the Jewish community and urge lawmakers to craft appropriate legislation.

Though HIAS' Aronoff had realized the coalition wouldn't see "complete success" by the start of Passover, "we wanted to make a strong, principled call that we wanted to see movement, and we have."