Forward: Two Orthodox groups that aid disabled children are downplaying their ties to a prominent undocumented immigration activist who has been accused of downloading child pornography.
Roy Naim was accused on September 18 in federal court in Brooklyn with admitting to agents during a search of his house that he had child pornography on his laptop. According to the criminal complaint, Naim, who was profiled in a June 2012 Time magazine cover story on undocumented illegal immigrants, said that he had been viewing and downloading child pornography for years. He was released September 19, on a $250,000 bond.
In online profiles, Naim claimed he had worked from 2003 through 2008 at Camp Simcha, a camp for ill Orthodox children that was run by the group Chai Lifeline. The profiles said Naim was a “division head” at the camp. Naim also claimed to have worked as a running coach at the Hebrew Academy for Special Children, a network of Orthodox schools for disabled people, and as a motivational running coach at Yachad, an Orthodox service agency for disabled people…
Naim, who is partially deaf, moved to the United States from Israel with his family when he was 4. The Naims overstayed their visas and settled in the country. He remains an undocumented immigrant. Naim was the subject of a Forward profile earlier this year when he emerged as a high-profile advocate for undocumented immigrants. The profile described Naim as “the Jewish face of the immigration reform struggle.”
Naim did media rounds in June promoting a game created by the website DoSomething.org , meant to dramatize the plight of undocumented immigrants.
