Did anyone catch the part about ILLEGAL immigration? That would seem to be the relevant part of the problem. No one says we in the U.S. have a problem with legal immigration. The U.S. allows a lot of legal immigrants. The problem is with those who come here secretly, breaking the law and doing so with the intent of breaking more laws. Drugs, slavery, even just working here without paying taxes or obeying the laws concerning employment. What does the Torah say about that kind of behavior?

These wonderful scriptures to me mean the stranger is the foreign exchange student, the child that was adopted from another country. The business men and women that is here on business for a certain amount of time from another country. The stranger is the ones that have moved here and became citizens of the United States. The stranger is the woman who met and married an American man through the Internet and moved here and became a citizen. The stranger is the foreign companies that established companies here in the United States and gave hundreds of jobs to Americans. In Israel the stranger is the non-Jews. Could possible even be thought of the Jews that were born in other countries, even though technically they are not strangers. Basically speaking the scriptures when speaking of the stranger is referring to non-Jews, passing through Israel. King Solomon built a temple and the non-Jews were welcome to come and pray there also. We welcome the stranger, because those strangers didn't welcome us in their land. So when they come on our turf, we don't act like the non-Jews did in the past, when we lived in their land. We are kind to them, not oppressing them. We don't set up tricks to destroy them. The scriptures is telling us we understand what being mistreated is all about in foreign lands, let's do better than they did, we are children of the King. Everyone is God's children, it's just that Jews in the past has been mistreated in foreign lands. The United States has done lots in helping immigrants to come and become citizens, if not, all of us would not be living here today. So though we do not live in Israel, we look at the stranger as those who come from other countries, just like we did. What I wrote is not referring to the AZ laws, for I disagree these scriptures should be connected to that law. Because I understand why they are having to set up laws in that state to control the situation at hand.

I live in California, so this is a real issue out here. I find the anti-immigration rhetoric around here mostly xenophobic and anti-Torah (because of exactly the passages listed by the author). Of course, we have to better monitor foreigners crossing our border to commit terrorist acts, hide from the law, or traffic drugs for gangs. However, most illegal immigrants are just desperate to live someplace safe where they can make a decent living for their families.

Rabbi...can you define "Reasonable Numbers"? If not, whose decision is acceptable? Does Israel not require proper identification for legal entry...for visitors and those desiring permanent residence? This topic is too complex for mortals to reconcile, without provoking our friends and neighbors.

It speaks a lot about the willful indifference of Rabbi Meir, and those who agree with him, to the ethics they seek to hide behind, that they ignore the serious harm done to poor and suffering US citizens who are being harmed by the deliberate displacement of them by the cheap foreign labor the Rabbi favors in the US. There are massive tent cities all across the US, filled with US citizens and their children, they are homeless because they are discriminated against by employers, pushed out of their jobs, they can't find others, and lose their homes and apartments. Neither he nor others can claim ignorance, as it's a fact of life that is known. Nor did he or others condemn the Rubushkins who refused to hire US citizens an pay them a fair wage, rather they hired and abused illegals, and found immigrant Rabbis who looked the other way. I can't help but wonder if Rabbi Meir, is as false a Rabbi as those immigrant Rabbis were? What I see is that rather than "welcoming the stranger", this is a justification for harming the stranger, and the Rabbi an those like him are guilty of despising the poor US citizenry, and don't view them as neighbors, but enemies. Nor is it welcoming to use illegal aliens as a weapon to harm poor US citizens, those same US citizens and their ancestors who welcomed Jews to the US, and stood alongside them during times of crisis. Perhaps the Rabbi needs to be held to the high standards and ethics he treats as only excuses...

It's easy to complain about illegal immigrants etc., but more important to recognise the policy changes that have caused the situation essentially forcing many to risk their lives to make it to the USA, or even choose illegal/criminal avenues to make their way once inside. These include the Free Trade agreement that put lots of Mexican corn farmers out of business as they could not compete with the cheaper prices of American corn /corn products that flooded the market; and laws/immigration policies that limited some Mexicans' ability to survive as a migrant worker, when they weren't guaranteed return (to Mexico) and Reentry (to work in USA) from year to year, so were afraid to return to Mexico once they'd made it safely into the USA.. Migration is not something done willy-nilly, especially illegal immigration. Similarly, the immigrants behaviours once in the host country will mirror that level of desparation. Some complain about migrants using food stamps and sending money home - That shows how desperate the people are, they most often came to USA as a way to support others with whatever extra they could get. Until the USA gov't policy via its various agencies deal with the underlying issues causing the immigration, they will not be able to stop it, and the migration attempts will only become more "desperate" in their methods, and more closely tied to criminal activity. (An underground/criminal "migration industry" develops).

The big difference is between legal and illegal. Who has a problem with those that are legal? I don't. AZ is having a problem with illegal ones. I don't live in AZ . Two restaurants in my town was shut down because they were owned and ran by illegal immigrants. The food and service was great, but that doesn't stop the fact they were breaking the law. This past year, our President's aunt was caught being an illegal immigrant. We had a illegal immigrant Holocaust war criminal that was caught living in Ohio, had lived their for years, and was sent back to Germany to be tried and sent to prison. My brother's stepdaughter married a guy from Mexico here in the US, had two children by him. When he got busted for drug dealing in the place that he worked at, was when she and the US found out he was here illegally. He got sent back to Mexico along with others at his workplace that was illegally here. My Grandmother was born in the US, the rest of her family was not. After they move here, there was some mistakes in the immigration papers and she was placed in an orphanage since she was born in the US, while her parents and brothers and sisters had to go back to Hungary. It was a few years before her family was able to move back to the US. I just met a guy this past week that has moved to town from the Dominic Republic, and he's legal I had to check his green card. Totally welcomed him to town and the US. Yes here in the US, all over, not just in AZ there is alot here that are breaking the law. They have never gone through the channels to become citizens, here on a green card or passport. They are here illegally. For all the ones that have gone through the proper procedures to be in the US, we welcome them all. You have to question when those that don't go through the channels, why not? What's in their records from the country they came from, or what are they hiding from the US to not become legal? The Torah is not telling us to hideout criminals.

Communities throughout the USA are in danger of bankruptcy----and indeed the USA's own federal budget is extremely in debt. Certainly we cannot keep providing for immigrants who are unable to support their own families, and especially we need to secure our national borders, particularly because our government has already found MANY radical Islamists who are entering illegally.

We are encountering problems all the time with ethical dilemmas and it could be said, certainly, that there are limited resources in some countries, and that continuously allowing immigration, from less fortunate countries, puts stress on the resources of a country. This is true. And yet, we also have to recognize that this country, the United States, is largely diverse and culturally rich, and it is that influx that built and strengthened this country. Yes, Diversity in all things is a geode. We learn from each other! There are strong humanitarian reasons for allowing people into our country. There is oppression, there is violence, and many are fleeing from political vendettas and worse. How do we act? What is humane? What is fair? How do we deal with all the ensuing issues, because yes, there are problems that do relate to this issue? I would like to believe that ethics is not a black and white affair and that we are constantly challenged to bring to the issues in life, our "gray" matter. We must act according to conscience and weight both sides as best we can. I believe God wants anguish, as part of such ethical judgments. As to my story, it's the Book of Ruth, and surely she followed her country woman into a new land, to follow a new culture and religion, and it's probably the most beautiful of all Biblical Stories. So I think it's fitting that within Ruth, is given the lineage of the Messiah. A stranger in a strange land given love, meeting Boas, and a lineage that is sacred.

My American-born nieces and nephews, children of my US citizen sister and her legal resident former husband from Dominican Republic, have all been subjected to racial slurs and even profiling -- this is what most of us who object to AZ law find problematic -- the harrassment of people based on skin color, even if they are US citizens or legal immigrans.

I am all for legal immigration, however, as a high school teacher with a huge number of illegal immigrant students, I must disagree. Many of the ungrateful little pr!@k$ all for Anzlan, a return of the U.S. Southwest to Mexico. Econiomically, the impact is huge. It costs the U.S. taxpayer $7,000 per year to educated a single students. The expense of educating these students is huge. In L.A. alone, 70 emegency rooms had to be closed because illegals overwhelmed them, and did not pay for the services rendered. You have zero idea. BTW, my mother is an immigrant and my father and grandparents had to sign sponsorship papers for her to enter the U.S, and she is married to a WWII vet.

I am amazed at comments of people who should know better...since they claim to know G-d. If a person comes to our country illegally and they need medical care, they should get it - then they should be put on a bus and deported (under our current laws). If they are trying to come here and there is a desert they must cross, it is expected of G-d's people to want to put water barrels for them (they will cross anyway) - our government should not arrest compassionate people, try them, imprison them, and fine them for wanting to save a life. The main problem we have with the AZ law is that the whole "problem" could be solved in 1-day "if" the politicians wanted it to be solved. They won't because with one hand they stir the pot of public indignation and with the other hand they are doing something else that if people knew about - they would vigorously protest: like spending like drunken sailors, or helping Terrorist States and/or groups who would like to murder every Jew (first) then move onto murdering every Christian. How a nation treats people who are poor, weak, and defenseless is how that nation will be judged in history overall - Righteous or Evil. Ask those people who have been in the way of any empires ambition...how they view the empire du jour. American can have its modern laws - but America cannot forget that compassion is a trait for nations as much as it is for individuals. If individuals do not kick when their nation is cruel or uncaring - then they deserve the consequences bestowed upon it and them by a Righteous and Compassionate G-d (Ezekiel 16:49-50).

YES THEY ARE HARD WORKING.....BUT THEY STILL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF US. MOST GET FOOD STAMPS YET SEND THEIR MONEY BACK TO MEXICO TO THEIR FAMILIES. MOST DONT CONTRIBUTE TO THE COMMUNITY. THEY USE THE HOSPITAL EMERGENCY ROOMS AS THEIR "PRIMARY CARE" DOCTORS, FOR FREE, YET THERE ARE MILLIONS OF AMERICAN CITIZENS WHO DO NOT HAVE MEDICAL INSURANCE AND SUFFER BECAUSE OF IT. ENOUGH!!!!!!

for the first comment..just so you know, if you are not legal in this country you cannot get welfare or medicaid...

Unfortunately the author is wrong in his conclusion. There ARE too many instances of where the American people are being taken advantage of by ILLEGAL immigrants. (At the outset, let me opine that the only difference between the rights of legal immigrants and citizens should be the right to vote in elections). The fact is that illegal immigrants commit and are sentenced for violent crimes at rates greater than legal immigrants and citizens. The fact is that illegal immigrants take advantage of our welfare systems and our "free" medical systems at far greater rates than citizens and legal immigrants. Yes, our ancestors were strangers in strange lands, but we added to their wealth as do LEGAL immigrants. But to, as the Democ-rats would, place illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship would be to give illegality the sanction of the law and this must never be permitted!

wtih that in mind, the arizona law makes sense. they are suffering horrible from violent crimes to the byproducts of smuggling and human trafficking. so, while other states may not understand the arizona law, it obviously makes sense for a region under severe pressure and unrest due to illegal immigration and the resultant criminal activity.

I appreciate Rabbi Meirs article very much and am diappointed in the first 3 readers comments. The mexican workers I know are such hardworking people with good family values and work ethic and optimistic ambition - the traits that served our immigrant grandparents so well and made this country the great country that it is. It is very shortsighted, besides being meanspirited, to begrudge these people a chance to earn an honest living in the U.S. It should not be a crime to strive to find honest work and then to do it with vigor and joy and pride in a job well done which I have personally witnessed. It is wrong to criminalize crossing the border to find honest work. It also diverts the focus and efforts from stopping the real criminals.(i dont know whether the mexican workers I know personally are "legal" or not but to me the only question is are they honest or not - I believe the vast majority are.

You really have to think also of the citizens in the country. Whether the country can support more people coming in, when times are not so good for the country. How can this be a help to those wanting to come. The country has to be prepared to take on more. Right now, the U.S. is not in that position to open up arms for all to come. Israel is going through the same thing. You have to think of your own first. Would you feed someone Else's kid and let your own starve?

Rabbi Meir, I love your exposition with respect to the treatment of the foreigner. We certainly know what it is like not to be treated properly. I am not sure that the situation with Mexico applies. 1. Illegal aliens are transgressing the law. The US is working hard to control the drug and arms trade coming across the border. Look at Juarez across El Paso and the number of deaths year to date. I think it is 130 people per 100,000. 2. Statistics show the rate of unemployment for foreign born workers is 8.6 and for native born it is 9.5% (May 2010). Although one cannot place too much emphasis on just one statistic the fact is that jobs are being taken away form American workers. 3. Most of the monies earned are not going directly into the US economy but rather it is going into Mexico. 4. There is also the demographic equation. Right now 20% of the population is Mexican. Every major business has a Spanish recording (just listen to all the airport recordings). There is no sign showing that the present Spanish population is doing what previous ones have done: learn and become part of the society. Instead they have formed typical village mentality which is having a negative impact in terms of crime, education, culture and in the end the overall American culture. 5. There are thousands of great candidates waiting to enter the US the legal way. They have great qualifications. US has a right to have the best enter its borders. It also has a right to allow refugees but it needs to screen them so that it is not allowing terrorists, murderers, drug dealers and other criminals into the country. I guess we might need to define what a foreigner is. Is it someone who breaks your laws and then demands that you change them?

This is an excellent piece, but in regards to the Arizona issue, it is missing an important point. The controversy does not revolve around immigrants, but *illegal immigrants*. The corollary would be more closely approximated to strangers breaking into a house than how forthcoming we should be with our hospitality.