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! (Emma Lazarus)
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The recent transport of immigrants to northern locations by Governors Abbott and DeSantis reveals more about their dehumanization of vulnerable people than their disregard for the law. Most significant is their neglect of human decency. If they have designs on the Presidency, they have chosen a sordid stunt to advance them.
To treat these people as political pawns is unconscionable. They have been so politically and economically abused in their native countries that they are dazed, i.e. “unable to think clearly or act normally due to injury, shock, bewilderment, fatigue, etc.” beyond reasoning and easily manipulated. Anyone who takes advantage of such people is cruel and cynical–pathetic Presidential-candidates-in -waiting.
The arrival of millions of immigrants, many of them asylum seekers, is a monumental challenge for a nation of immigrants. Even many of our disadvantaged citizens are not as oppressed as the people pressing on our borders for a chance at a new life. It is a national challenge, appealing to our ethic: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” It should not be the campaign issue of the Democratic or Republican Parties so much as a challenge to the national conscience.
An overwhelming challenge like the saturation of our borders with immigrants will never be met by the federal government or any political party aspiring to rule this country. It requires the non-partisan compassionate coordination of advocacy, spiritual and cultural agencies committed to this ideal: The government may have a role to coordinate these agencies, but it lacks the compassion to effectively deploy them. “Send these the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.”
Immigration reform and outreach are national passions. According to immigration attorney Carl Shusterman, there are no fewer than 35 agencies advocating for immigrants, ranging from think tanks to church outreach agencies [https://www.shusterman.com/immigration-organizations/]. Most of these agencies commit to compassionate outreach, not political advocacy. In addition to legal and religious organizations they include charitable foundations, cultural advocates and problem-solving forums such as:
- American Immigration Council (AIC)
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace:
- Cato Institute
- Essential Workers Immigration Coalition
- Hidden Dream
- Immigrant Solidarity Network
- Immigration Advocates Network
- Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force
- League of United Latino American Citizens (LULAC)
- NAFSA: Association of International Educators
- National Immigration Forum
- Rand
- Survivors of Torture, International (SURVIVORS)
- Unidos US
The collaboration of these agencies with religious and legal resources could locate and settle thousands of immigrants within a few years. As we have already witnessed in New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Martha’s Vinyard, there is funding, space and good will enough to place these survivors in compassionate settings. The challenge is daunting, but not overwhelming. It demands energy and compassion, not political rabble-rousing.
If candidates want to bring immigration settlement to the attention of the American voters, their call should be for non-partisan assistance. They should recognize that we are a privileged people with more than enough to share with “the homeless tempest tost.” They should recognize them as the worthy poor, the beneficiaries of our rich blessings.
In no way do our immigrants deserve to become the political volley balls of 2022-24. We are better than that. Only our Presidential candidates have failed to understand our national motivation to help and share our wealth with the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”