Mayor Rahm Emanuel joined a cause among Democratic politicians, saying he would fast for 24 hours in a show of support for federal immigration reform that could help his standing among Latino voters locally but isn’t likely to do much to end the congressional standoff on the politically charged issue.
“For us it is essential to remind the United States Congress that there is support for immigration reform throughout the country,” he said during remarks before he laid roses in front of the statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the church. “And we are going to fast and share in that effort in solidarity, as the father said, with those in Washington.
Aldermen Daniel Solis, 25th; Rey Colon, 35th; and Lona Lane, 18th, were on hand at the Mass and said they too would fast.
“I will say, so you know, that in the Jewish faith we fast on our holiest of holy days, Yom Kippur, for 24 hours,” said Emanuel, who promised to go without food from 7 p.m. Thursday to 7 p.m. Friday. “It is a way of marking, and clearing ourselves and bringing us closer to God, and reminding ourselves not just of our sins, but of the justice we have to bring in the coming year. And I cannot think of anything that’s more appropriate, in the sense of the justice we must bring, than to finally bring immigration reform.”
The mayor is one of several Democrats who have pledged to fast for a day to demonstrate their solidarity with backers of immigration reform who have been taking turns fasting in the National Mall in Washington since last month to try to get Congress to approve an immigration bill.
Sen. Dick Durbin announced he would fast from Thursday to Friday. Earlier this week, Democratic Rep. Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates said she would fast for a day, and Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston said she did so last month.
Politicians who have joined the fast are doing so on the honor system, since they’re not out in public the entire time.
While the brief fasts by Democrats help pro-immigration reform groups garner some publicity, they don’t seem likely to have much immediate impact on the issue in the nation’s capital.
The House is done voting for the year after approving a budget deal Thursday, which means congressmen won’t vote on a bipartisan immigration bill the Senate approved over the summer. Republicans who control the House are divided over whether to provide a path to citizenship for immigrants who are in the U.S. without legal status.
For Emanuel, the fast could help him blunt lingering criticism about his involvement on the immigration issue when he was serving as President Barack Obama’s chief of staff. Emanuel is viewed as steering Obama away from a politically tricky immigration reform push during the president’s first year in office. Obama instead focused on health care, which eventually resulted in the Affordable Care Act.
Since becoming mayor, Emanuel has played up his own family’s immigrant history, has spoken at immigration reform events and said he wants to make Chicago the most “immigrant friendly” city in the country.
(Source: Chicago Tribune)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
14 Responses
Knowing him I am quite sure he ate behind closed doors so don’t give him credit for fasting on Asara B’Teves.
Oey vey! Nebach. This Emanual is really messed up!
Many of we Jews are in the United States thanks to the grace of a Green Card, and many more of us would have survived WW2 had more Green Cards been issued, so how dare we slam the door on any potential immigrants, when we are so grateful to be in the United States of America.
His father was my pediatrician the apple does not fall far from the tree.
3,
What in heaven’s name are you hocking ah tzeynik about? You are showing that you are, zulst mich moychil zayn, completely ignorant about the facts here. This is NOT about farshtunkina green cards. This is 100% amnesty…. as automatic citizenship for people WHO BROKE THE LAW TO BE HERE!!!!
I don’t know about your relatives but mine went thru the process at Ellis Island or whichever port of call they arrived at. The bottom line is they did it LEGALLY the way the laws were set in those days. They did NOT come illegally like the miscreants whom the socialist liberal democrat party wants to give a free pass to. That is completly UNACCEPTABLE to me!
3
Let me clarify …
What is unacceptable is giving amnesty. Send them back and let them wait on line.
#3 because many of those coming into the U.S. and wanting Green Cards are those types of people who would increase the possibility of another Holocaust (or something similar). This is no joke the “third World”, in this case the Latino world has Catholics who have high statistics of Jew hatred. This might not sound “politically correct” but statistics do not lie. Other places as well but in numbers we are talking Latin America in this case. Don’t think it is only White people who could perpetrate a holocaust and pogroms and such. You already probably know that their are much higher crime statistics with illegal immigrants. Its all self evident (and statistics wise proven) you just need to think with your brain.
So sad that this Emanuel guy is a Yid. I’m embarrassed by everything he says and does.
To Commenter No. 5: If I am not mistaken (which I was once), you have made a spectacular mistake of fact to support your political views. If your ancestors arrived prior to 1926, the only restrictions on immigration that they had to comply with were not to have tuberculosis, not to be blind, and not to have an eye infection. The only line they waited on was to get examined by doctor before being allowed to enter the US.
he wants to make Chicago the most “immigrant friendly” city in the country.
Better than Marty Markowitz who’s happy that Brooklyn is the most toieivah friendly place in the country.
#8 Why should you be embarrassed by what he says and what he does? It’s sad that he and Jews like him hardly know they’re Jewish and the beauty of Torah and what they’re missing in their empty lives.
Mark Levin is correct,and everyone else are (media painted) irrelevant
Real Refugees do get in easily, due to acts passed in ’64 or ’65
#9
You meant 1921
9 nfgo
Thanks for proving my point. I know as a bleeding heart socialist commie that wasn’t your intention but you feel into the trap of FACTS.
The FACT is, however they came, THEY CAME LEGALLY! They didn’t sneak in. They didn’t “over stay” their visas. THEY WERE LEGAL TO BEGIN WITH!
Don’t you ever get tired of ranting about “bleeding hear socialist commies…etc”…There are about 12-15 million undocumented aliens in the U.S. They are not going anywhere. We are not going to round them up, send them back, etc. Save that nonsense for the next meeting of your local tea party fan club or your next call to the Rush Limbaugh show….