Jim Kielkop is a spokesman for ISAIAH, which characterizes itself as a faith-based immigrant-rights group. In fact, ISAIAH supports amnesty and citizenship for all illegal aliens. Kielkop opposes the government’s post-9/11 efforts to monitor immigration. “Most of these absurd anti-immigration policies were in effect long before 9/11,” he says. “They have nothing to do with national security; they have everything to do with excluding people from the full benefits of citizenship in order to exploit your labor and keep you powerless. Yes, Jim Crow laws are still at work today.” Kielkop sees similarities between the legalized oppression of African Americans under segregation and the current system of immigration laws.

Kielkop’s characterization of illegal aliens as victims of an oppressive American society has been, through his efforts, transmitted to untold numbers of impressionable young adults. As one Minneapolis high-school student attending a July 2003 ISAIAH-sponsored rally stated, “The problem is that because of their legal status, many youth cannot accomplish their dreams.” “We refuse to live in the shadows as second-class human beings,” said another. “There are many injustices that are happening, but one that affects young immigrants the most is the laws that prevent us from going to college.”