In honor of LGBT Pride Month, I am speaking tonight at Congregation Rodeph Shalom, a Reform synagogue in New York City.  Pride month encompasses the holiday of Shavuot, on which Jews read the Book of Ruth.  Ruth and Naomi can fairly be described as the first same-sex binational couple (my full remarks are pasted after the break.)  I want to give some context to their story as it exists today, in a country where so many gay and straight families are struggling to stay together.  Against that backdrop, I will describe the nation’s largest immigration raid, which took place last month at a kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa.

• To learn more about the situation in Postville, read the Des Moines Register’s extensive coverage.
• To express your opposition to treyf practices like immigrant exploitation, sign the petition that Uri l’Tzedek is circulating.
• To support the workers and their families, send contributions through Rabbi Morris Allen.

“Ruth, Naomi, and Postville” by Rachel B. Tiven

Delivered June 6, 2008 at Congregation Rodeph Shalom

I know of a lesbian couple, very much in love after more than a decade together, and completely devoted to one another.  The older of the two women is American; her partner is Jordanian, and they met when the American was living in Jordan.  Difficult family circumstances forced the American to return home.  Initially, she tried to persuade her partner to stay behind in Jordan, knowing how difficult and alien life would be for her in America.  Her partner wouldn’t hear of it, and insisted that separation was not an option. Life together in America, however, is extremely difficult.  The Jordanian woman lives here without legal status – because they are a same-sex couple, there is no way for her American partner to sponsor her for a green card.  Money is tight because she can’t work legally, and the couple is forced to rely on the local food pantry for sustenance.  The American has a distant relative, a man who has offered to marry the Jordanian woman and sponsor her.  The couple recently contacted my office to ask for advice.
When we hear the Book of Ruth on Shavuot this coming week, the story of Ruth and Naomi – the story I just told – will have special resonance for same-sex binational couples.  Same-sex binational couples are gay and lesbian Americans partnered with non-citizens.  For these couples, differing nationalities make life in American difficult, if not impossible.  Like Ruth and Naomi, they have fought to stay together.  Many struggle for daily subsistence in a society with few options for vulnerable outsiders.
If Naomi were an American citizen today, there would be no way for her to sponsor Ruth for immigration benefits.  Immigration law is entirely federal, and same-sex couples are denied recognition under all federal laws, regardless of whether they have a marriage or civil union.  This means that the incredible advances for equal marriage rights in California and recognition in New York still won’t help couples facing immigration discrimination.  The organization I run, Immigration Equality, is working to change this situation by passing federal legislation that would recognize same-sex couples in our immigration laws.  It is an uphill battle, but one that we must fight for the modern-day Ruths and Naomis who call us every day for help.
Gay and lesbian couples bear an extra burden under U.S. immigration law, but the situation same-sex couples face is part of a climate that has grown increasingly hostile to immigrant families.
Postville, Iowa is a good example of a small town reinvigorated by an immigrant population.  The town’s economy depends heavily on a slaughterhouse called Agriprocessors, which until recently employed nearly 1,000 people – most of them immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala.  Kosher consumers know Agriprocessors as Rubashkins.  Rubashkins is the largest kosher slaughterhouse in the world – 60% of the kosher beef Americans eat and 40% of the chicken is packaged there.
Three weeks ago, Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided the plant, arresting 400 workers on suspected immigration violations.  Simply being present in the United States without legal immigration status is a civil violation, not a federal crime.  Ordinarily, immigration detainees face rapid deportation but not criminal charges.  In this raid, the largest ever carried out in an American workplace, nearly 300 workers were charged with federal crimes like “misuse of a social security number” and “false use of identity documents.”  Most will be sent to federal prison for five months and then deported.  Although it is illegal to employ unauthorized workers, no one from Rubashkins’ management has yet been charged with a crime.  In fact, no one from Rubashkins has been charged on any of the allegations that have come to light over the past three weeks, including the use of child labor, sexual harassment, and health and safety violations.  Members of Congress have asked Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to investigate whether worker complaints about labor violations prompted the raid.
The holiday of Shavuot reenacts the Jews’ acceptance of the Torah, a crucial step in the covenant between the Jewish people and God.  Rabbi Yitz Greenberg describes the covenant as the perpetuation of the Exodus from Egypt.  He notes that “In the Torah, some of the Exodus principles are practiced at once,” so crucial are they to the covenant.  Key among them: “The weak, the widow, the orphan, the outsiders are treated kindly and with justice.  There is one law for the citizen and the outsider.”
Taking advantage of vulnerable people – abusing them, underpaying them, endangering their health – because their fear of deportation makes them reluctant to speak out — is a sin.  However, silence is also a sin.  It is a sin to fail to demand immigration reform that will protect people who work hard and pay their taxes – for all of the Rubashkins employees paid taxes even though they were not allowed to have a social security number – money that will support me when I retire but that they will never see.  It is a sin to say nothing while millions of people work hard in this country, live here and die here, and yet they will never be citizens, will never be full persons under the law.
What is happening in Iowa is a sin and it is occurring in the name of Jewish observance.  It is a reflection on every Jew, whether you keep kosher or not.  When Rabbi Morris Allen, a leader in the ethical kashrut movement, visited Postville last week, volunteers at the church serving families of displaced workers said, “You are the first Jews to come here to meet with these people.”
Please join me in supporting Jewish opposition to unfair labor practices and immigrant exploitation.  I have posted these remarks on Immigration Equality’s blog, along with links to a petition to the owners of Rubashkins and how to help the affected workers in Iowa.