Liberty Weeps Over How America Treats Immigrants

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Carved on the Statue of Liberty is an inscription – a poem by Emma Lazarus. It reads: “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.” The Statue of Liberty was built as a symbol of hope for all those people immigrating to America from foreign lands. Just as America granted freedom to the pilgrims, the original immigrants, it would grant freedom to all those who came after.

It seems that these days, though, the Statue of Liberty has lost her meaning, especially in the eyes of conservative politicians. An estimated 52,000 child immigrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras have arrived at the Mexico-American border during the last year. Instead of caring for these children – these tired, these poor, these huddled masses yearning to breathe free – Conservatives are proposing we plant landmines at the border. Conservative protestors are defacing the immigration centers, threatening children with guns, and shouting angry words at these helpless migrants who just want a taste of a better future. Over half of these children are fleeing the crime and gang violence that has overtaken their home countries.

It is not much better for immigrant children who have already grown up in America. Even the best and brightest among these undocumented teens and adults face uncertain employment opportunities and threats of deportation.

These so-called ‘undocumented’ children and teens saw the Statue of Liberty, lifting her lamp beside the golden door, only to discover that the door is locked to them.

http://www.poliblogg.com/#!Liberty-Weeps-Over-How-America-Treats-Immigrants/colb/AE68F798-01C7-437E-9595-F575A43C0E4B