The Statue of Liberty poem means the exact opposite of - what the illegal immigrant advocates Posted: Nov 28th, 2020 - 8:13 am In Reply to: How the Left Gets the Statue of Liberty Poem Wrong - No, it's not a mandate to wreck America
think.
There was an IRONCLAD rule that immigrants should never be a burden on America. One year before publishing of the poem, Congress passed the 1882 Immigration Act. The bill instructed Treasury officials to inspect immigrant ships for public charges. “If on such examination there shall be found among such passengers any convict, lunatic, idiot, or any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming a public charge … such persons shall not be permitted to land,” states section 2 of the act.”
In 1891, Congress added to existing categories of inadmissibility those convicted of a “misdemeanor involving moral turpitude” (in addition to felonies), polygamists, paupers, and those suffering from contagious diseases. In addition to a full interview with an immigration official, all immigrants had to undergo a medical exam, and anyone found to have a contagious disease was immediately quarantined and then deported. Also, all immigrants who were found to be a public charge up to a year after being legally admitted into the country could be deported under this bill.
In 1903, the very year the poem was placed on the Statue of Liberty, Congress added four new categories of inadmissibles: anarchists, people with epilepsy, “professional beggars,” and those who import prostitutes.
Thus, if the Left somehow wants to use history to justify its position, the historical record shows that our values and the policies supporting them were completely opposite what the Left claims.
The poem offers the liberty with which even the poor can prosper — from their own work, not handouts
So what’s with the poem? Why was it prominently displayed on the Statue of Liberty where immigrants came through Ellis Island?
The poem, “The New Colossus,” wasn’t placed on the statute until 17 years after it was built, as a tribute to the Enlightenment of America’s Founding. The Colossus of Rhodes was a monument of the Greek sun god Helios, and the poem specifically rejects that old Colossus: “Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame.”
Freedom means one is unshackled by government restrictions but also by government subsidies. There was no welfare when Emma Lazarus wrote that poem, nor did it exist throughout the entire duration of the Great Wave of immigration. By definition, someone coming here during that era, even if they were currently poor, was engaging in a risky act of rugged individualism whereby they had to sink or swim on their own.
Americans free of socialism can make prosperity out of poverty. Welfare just perpetuates the poverty
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