Michael Wildes, at The Blogs

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Jan 23, 2021, 12:08 AM

Covid-19 and the U.S. presidential election

Covid-19 has radically reshaped how we approach nearly all aspects of day to day life. Elections and the campaigns that accompany them likewise have been heavily impacted over the course of this year, and we have likely witnessed fundamental changes that will remain beyond our...

Sep 12, 2020, 12:46 AM

Homecoming 2020: What the past can teach us about resilience

“In the sufferer let me see the human being.” — Maimonides We have been here before. A pandemic threatening communities around the world; protests and outrage over systemic injustice; leadership that fails to inspire. While 2020 has been a seemingly endless parade of calamity, what...

Jul 6, 2020, 10:55 PM

Proclamation nation — Making sense of the most recent immigration proclamation

On June 22, the Trump administration announced the “Proclamation Suspending Entry of Aliens Who Present a Risk to the U.S. Labor Market Following the Coronavirus Outbreak,” which extended a previous ban on immigrant visas (aka “green cards”) to temporary non-immigrant visas. That proclamation is simply...

May 9, 2020, 12:03 AM

Immigration nation: Only an international community can defeat a global threat

On April 22, 2020, the president signed a proclamation suspending immigration into the United States in what was claimed to be a response to the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Said to be intended to protect jobs from foreign nationals during the ongoing...

Mar 10, 2020, 12:06 AM

Kiss Me, I’m Jewish: Ireland, Judaism, and the promise of immigration

Last year, I had the pleasure of joining the former Ashkenazi chief rabbi, Yisrael Meir Lau, for Shabbat while he was in New York for an event honoring a prominent Holocaust museum in Israel. The event happened to coincide with the annual New York St....

Dec 19, 2019, 10:43 PM

Building the Oasis: How African-American and Jewish cooperation can save America

On March 25, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, speaking to the 68th annual convention of the Rabbinical Assembly, proclaimed: “I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land...

Nov 19, 2019, 11:54 PM

Finding Safe harbor: Lessons from the Jewish Refugee Experience

It is a calm day at the end of May, and a ship is anchored in Havana Harbor. As it rocks in the swell, nervous passengers look over the handrails. The docks of Havana are in sight. Children are heard laughing somewhere from below decks....

Aug 26, 2019, 11:05 PM

Leading by example: How local government shapes response to immigration policies

With the news of the senseless violence in El Paso and the recent mass roundup of undocumented workers in Mississippi, it’s impossible to ignore the often heartbreaking challenges immigrants face in the United States. With a Congress that is either incapable or unwilling to compromise...

Jul 26, 2019, 8:22 PM

Immigration raids—political theater of the absurd

Over the weekend, ICE threatened to launch a much-publicized series of raids around the country in order to round up removable non-criminal immigrants by the thousands. This was yet another example of spectacle over sound policy, and it does nothing to make the country safer....

Jul 17, 2019, 9:16 PM

Our duty to accept each other

I recently had the honor of raising a flag in honor of Pride Month in my hometown of Englewood. It was one of many events across the county where family, friends, and neighbors came together in the celebration of a value that we all share...

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About Me

Michael Wildes is the mayor of Englewood, a member of Congregation Ahavath Torah there, and the author of 'Safe Haven in America: Battles to Open the Golden Door.' He is a former federal prosecutor and an adjunct professor of immigration law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.