Matilda Ziegler
“From her beacon-hand / Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command / The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. / “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she / With silent lips. 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!”
These lines, which come from Emma Lazarus’ poem, The New Colossus, became a “public institution” after the reading of the poem at the Statue of Liberty’s dedication and were once accepted as the prevailing attitude of the United States towards immigrants.
The Democratic Party Platform states “America is a nation of immigrants,” and that “since our founding, immigrants have traveled to America to pursue freedom and opportunity, to flee oppression and to reunite with family members. In turn, they have made our country stronger . . .
The United States must continue to be a beacon of hope and opportunity.”
This statement seemingly agrees with Lazarus’ notion that America should extend a “world-wide welcome” to the world’s “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” and the “wretched refuse” of the world’s “teeming shore.”
However, the actions of Democrats in power tell a different story. Despite touting itself as the party of immigrants, throughout Biden’s presidency, Democratic immigration policies have become increasingly hostile to immigrants.
According to reporting by NPR, in the last six months of his term, Biden suspended the processing of most asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border. This, along with other Democratic policies, led to a sharp decrease of migrants, thus ceasing the “world-wide welcome” that the United States once extended to immigrants. In December 2023, border agents processed 250,000 migrants. In September 2024, this number had plummeted to 54,000, merely one-fifth of those who had come to the United States, “yearning to breathe free,” the previous year.
According to Pew Research (2024), 67% of Republicans stated the Bible should have influence over laws in the United States. The Bible is often used as justification for outlawing abortion and not appropriately protecting the rights of LGBTQIA+ Americans, as many conservative Christians, both Catholic and Evangelical, believe the Bible forbids being in a same-sex relationship, obtaining gender-affirming care or procuring an abortion.
As of 2020, 67% of white Evangelical Protestants opposed the legality of abortion, along with 45% of Catholics, according to coverage by NBC. However, despite the lack of support for the banning of abortion by Catholics, the official position of the Vatican is clear. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states abortion should be illegal, and “the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child's (fetus’s) rights” (CCC 2273). It also states same-sex sexual acts are always “intrinsically disordered” and “contrary to the natural law” (CCC 2357).
The Bible, which most Republicans say should influence American laws, contains many exhortations to welcome the immigrant and the “sojourner”. Exodus 23:9 (ESV) states “you shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” Matthew 25:35, an oft-quoted verse in the Sermon on the Mount, states “for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink.” What many leave out is the second portion of the verse: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” While I do not believe the Bible should be used to determine American laws, it is disingenuous and hypocritical to promote anti-immigrant policies while simultaneously stating that the Bible should be a major source of influence on American laws.
There is no major American political party, as of the time this article was written, that encourages the acceptance into America of “huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” I urge the reader, who is statistically unlikely to be one of the 16% of Americans, according to Gallup, who wants to accept more immigrants into the United States, to reconsider their position.
Especially if you believe the Bible should be a major influence on American laws, I urge you to “welcome the stranger,” and to welcome the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” to our nation. All Americans, excluding Indigenous Americans, are the descendants of immigrants. As NPR reports, immigrants, legal or illegal, commit fewer crimes than native-born Americans and provide the United States with the diversity that makes our nation great.
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