On Saturday, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain offered his vision for American immigration policy:

“First, secure the border for real..It’s common sense. Part of [the solution] would have a real fence. Twenty feet high, with barbed wire – electrified – with a sign on the other side that says it can kill you. It’ll be in English and Spanish.”

When David Gregory asked Cain about his remarks on “Meet the Press,” Cain said, “…America needs to get a sense of humor. That was a joke, OK?”

For me, however, Cain’s remarks were anything but a joke. The fact that the Republican co-frontrunner showed such a profound lack of compassion for immigrants is very disturbing. So many undocumented immigrants come to America as a last resort, leaving their families and friends behind to perform cheap, unskilled labor in industries dominated by people like themselves.

 Cain’s fence is also the furthest thing imaginable away from the Statue of Liberty, bearing Emma Lazurus’ words:

“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-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”“