Rahm Emanuel: Speak Out Against Immigration Curbs

Image by Getty Images

By Nathan Guttman March 30, 2017

Invoking his Jewish grandfather’s battle with anti-Semitism, Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel penned a Chicago Sun Times article decrying the rise of bigotry in Trump-era America and the limitations being imposed on immigration.

“My grandfather came to a city of opportunity, not a country that breaks up families at the border,” Emanuel wrote of his maternal grandfather, Herman Smulevitz who fled anti-Semitic pogroms in Europe a century ago.

Emanuel was among the first mayors to declare their cities sanctuary places for immigrants, where local authorities will not cooperate with federal agents seeking to deport or arrest undocumented immigrants.

In his opinion piece, Emanuel reminds readers of the “Righteous Among Nations” memorial at Israel’s Yad Va’Shem Holocaust museum that honors non-Jews who helped saved Jews.

“Today, we must all be the righteous among the nations with the courage to speak out against the hatred and ugliness whirling around us,” Emanuel wrote.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected]

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO