An immigrant rights group in Maryland may have jeopardized funding after issuing a statement critical of Israel's actions in Gaza.
CASA —an important advocate for immigrant rights in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties for decades — has enjoyed widespread Democratic support pushing for causes like access to health care and rent control.
But in since-deleted posts on X, formerly Twitter, CASA called for “an immediate cease-fire to save all precious life and halt the systematic ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.” While CASA condemned the Hamas attack, it said violence cannot “justify the heinous practice of terror currently unleashed by Israel in Gaza,” adding, “The Palestinian struggle mirrors our own.”
Many in the Jewish community called the posts antisemitic.
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CASA Executive Director Gustavo Torres promised to learn and do better.
“We want to apologize to our brothers and sisters in the Jewish community for the pain that we are causing today,” he said.
The apology may not be enough for some. Sources familiar with how CASA is funded say some Maryland lawmakers want to zero out CASA’s state funding and give it to other nonprofits that help the immigrant community.
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Montgomery County’s entire state senate delegation signed a letter condemning CASA’s posts, saying they were hurtful, divisive and antisemitic.
“Part of the reason I wanted to come on today was to send a very clear signal to those folk that CASA’s serving that you have our full support,” said state Sen. Craig Zucker, D-Montgomery County.
According to CASA, it received almost $2.3 million in state funding in fiscal year 2021 and almost $5.3 million from city and county governments in Maryland.
Montgomery County Councilmember Natali Fani-González, who received help from CASA as a teen immigrant and later worked for the organization, said she was shocked and outraged over the posts but also believes CASA can learn from the mistake and continue to provide important services.
“Some type of workshop, an education lesson for the staff to understand what is antisemitism and that is hate speech,” she said.
Torres said some of the reaction has been exaggerated and he stands by his group’s work in the community, which he said will continue no matter what happens.
Some also want an audit of CASA’s use of taxpayer dollars. CASA said it welcomes any audit because it hasn’t done anything wrong.
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