Need to send a message about US immigration

Our beloved Statue of Liberty summons exiles, the wretched, the homeless. From all of Europe, Asia and more, they came and built our railroads, farms, steel mills; dug our mines; made our clothes; healed our sick; fought our wars.

They had different clothes, religions, customs, foods, languages but enriched us, even after each in succession was demonized by nativists who cast “different” as bad. Today Trump, Dr. Ben Carson, etc. spout the same “us vs. them” thinking.

Don’t want a Muslim in the White House, Ben? Dude, remember when your ilk feared a Catholic as president, or a Mormon, or a black man? Remember when bigots didn’t want a Jew on the Supreme Court? Have we learned nothing or lost our soul?

Now you pump fear, build walls, and ostracize. Do we mean what the statue inscription says, or not? Worse, is what you say genuine, or just what the pollsters tell you to feed to those who want their bigotry affirmed? Pandering isn’t leadership; hate, fear and exclusion are the antithesis of “We, the people” and “United” States.

Demagoguery for votes demeans us in the eyes of the world and of the God you claim to embrace. How hypocritical is your mantra when your party quietly allows 10,000 millionaire foreign investors annually to buy full citizenship for them and their family (EB-5 program). You fear only poor immigrants?

When the power of love replaces the love of power, then there will be peace within and among us.

This story was originally published October 9, 2015 at 11:07 AM with the headline "Need to send a message about US immigration."