Inside the Statue of Liberty on a bronze plaque are the words of Lady Liberty:
"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!"
Emma Lazarus, 1883
What happened to Lady Liberty? I think she's now lounging on her plush Laz-e-Boy watching Arizona's kerfuffle on the news and disgusted at the Californians opposing it. Some lady. Some liberty.
I consider myself conservative. However, I feel uncomfortable at best when someone says something to the effect of "Send them back to their own country". In fact, I feel downright disgusted. It is not that illegal immigration is not a problem. It is, and it needs to be dealt with. Yes, laws even need to be passed about it.
But I find a bigger problem is those of us thinking of these people as aliens, as subhuman. There's a tone in that voice telling these families to get out of "our" country that says, "I don't want to see you here because you don't have money, you're not educated, you don't speak English and my money should be helping me and people like me."
Yes, laws do need to be changed. Perhaps it should be easier for people of other nations to lawfully enjoy freedom here. I'm not going to continue and pretend I understand politics. I'm sure it's an endlessly complex issue. But there's a moral standard we need to consider that even Dr. Seuss understood: "A person's a person, no matter how small." And I might add, no matter how illegal.
To read a more intelligent and referenced article please read:
I would especially encourage reading Elder Jensen's words in this linked article.
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