In 1883, American poet Emma Lazarus wrote the famous lines “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,” in the sonnetThe New Colossus. Lazarus' poem expresses the values that founded our great nation - Immigrants and their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Despite America being seen as the free world where anyone can come and make something of themselves, the American dream only exists to some.
This week, President Trump signed an executive order banning refugees and aliens coming from Iran, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya and Yemen entry into the United States. Trump's executive order has faced criticism and has even aroused questions about its legality. This executive order affected not only immigrants but also visa holders, green card holders, and refugees. Trump's executive order created an uproar of protest; thousands of people gathered in our major airports, held up witty signs, and exercised their first amendment rights. Despite how scandalous this executive order is and how inspiring these protests are, Trump's executive order is only one in a long list of the grim treatment of foreigners by the United States.
The United States was and still is, built on the labor of immigrants. Slave labor powered the agricultural development in the Revolutionary Era. During the Gilded Age, Chinese and Irish labor built the railroad lines that created the Transcontinental Railroad. Now, Hispanic and Latino labor pick fruits and vegetables in our farmlands. Despite the large role immigrant labor has played in the building of America, the United States, again and again, turns its back on people who built it.
During the 17th century, the Irish faced discrimination and denied entry into some British American colonies including South Carolina.
Slavery was legal until 1864 when congress passed the 13th Amendment, and segregation was legal until 1964 - 100 years later.
In, 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act prohibiting the immigration of Chinese laborers.
During World War II, over 120,000 Japanese were placed in internment camps when President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066.
Also during World War II, the United States was hesitant to accept Jewish refugees.
Now, there is an executive order preventing people from 7 majority Muslim countries entry into the United States.
Despite the beauty of the sentiment expressed in Lazarus' The New Colossus, American history rewrites her words: "[DON'T] give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. [DON'T] send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I [DON'T] lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
