Refugee Policy and Immigration

Adopted on May 29, 1994, at the CSJO Executive Board meeting in South Euclid, Ohio, USA

The Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations calls on its members and affiliates to urge upon their governments and their communities and organizations:

• To maintain a commitment to rescuing refugees and to fully fund refugee slots, including Jews from the former Soviet Union.
• Assure that new safe haven procedures are used to provide protection to populations in the United States and Canada who are unable to return to their homelands because of violent conflict or natural disasters.
• Support measures that assure adequate protection and representation for individuals facing deportation proceedings.
• Support immigration policies that retain as its basis family reunification.
• Work with interested communities to increase public awareness of the positive contribution made by newcomers to the United States and Canada.
• Encourage Jewish community involvement in the absorption and acculturation of immigrants and refugees to the United States and Canada.
• Urge national, state and local governments and the private sector organizations to provide retraining and adequate opportunities for new immigrants to become proficient in the language of their new homeland.