LADY LIBERTY WELCOMES HOMELESS HUDDLED MASSES AND WRETCHED REFUSE FROM OTHER NATIONS

Lady Liberty Reinforces American Ideals

The Statute of Liberty has long represented to the World the wonderful ideals of America. Inscribed on the plaque attached to Lady Liberty is the following.        

      The New Colossus  

Not like the brazen giant of Greek Fame
With conquering limbs astride from land to land
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand 
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame 
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name 
Mother of Exiles.  From her beacon-hand 
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command 
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. 
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she 
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, 
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, 
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.                     

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, 
I lift my lamp beside the golden door"!

Donald Trump routinely belittle immigrants and uses them as excuses for many ills that he purports to claim that our nation must address.  His current dramatic use of ICE to separate families and deport long standing residents is a slap in the fac of Lady Liberty. Moreover, the administration aggressively seeks to deny basic legal rights and effectively eliminate the concept of providing asylum to persons in need. He has been aggressive in seeking to eliminate options of legal migration.  He seeks to no only deport Dreamers who have lived in this country since childhood and offer many contributions to our communities but also to end the constitutional principle of birthright citizenship. 

In contrast to his opposition of even legal migration, he has expressed adamant support for preserving statutes of treasonous Confederate Generals who sought to destroy this Union of the United States.  In his first term he called white supremacists at Charlottesville “some good people”. He has retweeted a video of white seniors in golf carts calling out “White Power”. He pardoned January 6 insurrectionists. He directs ICE agents in masks to roundup people from job sites and farms. No effort is made, however, to enforce the law against the corporate employers that are purportedly employing undocumented workers.  .Although now closed by Court order, he sought congratulations on building Alligator Alcatraz. These actions are not the type of land that Lady Liberty shines her light or references on the plaque attached to her.  As I see these actions and policies, I wonder if the President ever visited Lady Liberty in the years that he lived within sight of her and if so, whether he read her words of inspiration.  His actions suggest not.

Unless one’s heritage is solely Native American, all of our ancestors were immigrants.  Some came to this country to find a better life.  Some were carried in slave ships. Today, we together make this nation great.  Our nation's strength comes from the diversity of backgrounds and heritages that fill this country from sea to shining sea. It is our diversity that makes this country the greatest in the World.  As Lady Liberty cries out, our nation must continue to welcome from all nations around the World “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.  We must lift Lady Liberty’s lamp to welcome all on their way to our shores. We must make legal migration easier and not more difficult. Our future and our economic growth may depend on that recognition. More important, we must maintain the heritage of diversity that built this nation.