Posts tagged Statue of Liberty

But today, as we observe the 125th anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty, those words, inscribed at its base, have been turned on their heads. Many of Lazarus’s tired and poor may today be found in immigrant detention facilities, part of an enormous backlog of deportation cases that grows larger by the day. Last year, the Department of Homeland Security deported nearly 400,000 people; its secretary, Janet Napolitano, recently promised to increase removal cases to “historic levels.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement received more than $1.6 billion for removal and deportation in the last fiscal year. It can cost $23,000, by some estimates, to remove someone from the United States.

Robert M. Morgenthau

(Source: The New York Times)

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!”“