CASA, which receives state funding for its work with immigrants, had apologized for its statement even before the lawmakers’ threat.
  • muninn@dmv.socialEnglish
    3·
    11 months ago

    Reading into this a bit, it looks like they are specifically objecting to a “From the river to the sea” post that CASA made and then deleted. Still incredibly cowardly to threaten to remove funding over support of Palestine.

    • cosmic_slate@dmv.socialMEnglish
      2·
      11 months ago

      I found a second article in my feed that seems to go into a little more detail: https://www.marylandmatters.org/2023/11/10/casa-scrambles-to-save-political-financial-support/

      In addition to the post that’s since been removed, it sounds like there’s skepticism about CASA keeping their non-profit organization’s activities separate from their advocacy organization’s activities.

      Some officials have also said they see a blurring of the activities of CASA, a 501©3 nonprofit organization, and CASA In Action, the 501©4 educational entity that enables the group to advocate during policy debates and operates a political action committee that supports political candidates. They couldn’t help but notice that the tweets on the Middle East came from CASA’s account on X (formerly known as Twitter) rather than from the advocacy arm, and that the staffers in the accompanying pictures were wearing CASA T-shirts, rather than CASA In Action T-shirts.

      Torres said CASA’s leadership is careful to keep the activities of the two entities separate. There’s a memorandum of understanding between the two sides, “describing specific roles,” he said, and it’s reviewed and “refined” annually by lawyers and auditors.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The Democrats’ threat follows actions by other state and federal officials urging crackdowns against those supportive of the Palestinian people and critical of Israel’s war on Gaza.

    Sen. Josh Hawley led a resolution condemning “radical student organizations” protesting on college campuses, while Sen. Tom Cotton called to deport foreign nationals deemed to be in support of Hamas.

    Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, meanwhile, has opened an investigation into a pro-Palestinian nonprofit, while students and employees across the country have faced professional retaliation for their support of Palestine.

    “It’s particularly shameful for Montgomery County state senators to attempt to silence CASA, an organization fighting on behalf of our immigrant communities, by threatening to withhold their funding.”

    Still, CASA faced swift pushback, including from Montgomery County Council Vice President Andrew Friedson, who called the statement “inflammatory and inaccurate” and urged the group to formally retract it.

    Torres expressed similar sentiments in an interview with  The Intercept, saying that the group feels “horrendous” about hurting Jewish community members, some of whom they have worked with for years.

    The original article contains 1,003 words, the summary contains 174 words. Saved 83%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!