Responding to the policy debate regarding illegal immigration, and the statements of other Jewish groups, Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld, Vice President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, said the following:

We commend Senator Ted Cruz for proposing a workable solution to this crisis. The previous policy left children vulnerable to trafficking, abuse, and being held for months without their parents. So the answer is not to blame the current administration, to simply return to previous, failed policy, or to join with left-wing groups anxious to exploit this crisis for partisan purposes. Senator Cruz has suggested a sincere, sober response, and we call for speedy consideration of his and other proposals to keep families together while also protecting children from abuse.

Rabbi Schonfeld was responding to stories — in even news outlets generally regarded as liberal-leaning — indicating that under previous guidelines, “thousands of Central American children… [were left] vulnerable to traffickers and to abuses,” and that “young Mexicans [were] being held for months without charge… sometimes without their parents’ knowledge.”

Rabbi Dov Fischer, West Coast Regional Vice President of the CJV, added:

For those of us serving as synagogue rabbis, whose congregants look to national organizations to tell them what is kosher, it is dismaying that two prominent organizations chose to join in a statement with radical Jewish groups whose values are antithetical to our own and whose negative reaction to anything coming from this administration is as certain as the sun rising in the East. We commend those such as Agudath Israel of America and the 1000-strong Rabbinical Alliance of America for representing the independence of the Orthodox Jewish community.

Rabbi Fischer was responding to a letter signed by two national Orthodox organizations but dominated by liberal-leaning groups, including those that oppose traditional values, are anti-Israel and even one that twists the meaning of “Orthodox” in Judaism.