Dear Americans, About Refugees...

There were an estimated 5000 people at the refugee camp in Tiajuana seeking asylum in the United States or Mexico in 2019 living in squalor. Men, women, and children in the cold weather living in makeshift shelters in hope that they may gain freedom and respect in either Mexico or the US. The sanitary conditions were ghastly and the human rights concerns still pending.

Why were these people at the ready to flee the lands of their nativity and many more still are? Some seek better lives. Some flee persecution due to sexual persuasion. Hundreds have many reasons why their goal is the United States, specifically the sanctuary status of the State of California. What should we as a people do when thousands beg to get into a country that claims to offer refuge for the downtrodden historically when it also fears the threat of terrorism and crime? It is complicated.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. 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-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Emma Lazarus in her efforts to raise money to build the pedestal upon which the statue of Lady Liberty stands wrote a poem featured above, The New Colossus. The plaque bearing her words are bronzed in memorial of her work and the sentiment it evokes that is apart of American history, lore, and culture.

The words that Emma attributes to Lady Liberty, were they ever true?

“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-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Was it ever true that Liberty for the US meant that the old countries could keep their classism and the United States would take the outcast? Was it ever true that the torch lifted up to the sky was to light the way for people looking for freedom and refuge?

In degrees, yes. Yes, America has been a beacon in degrees. What about today?

Outside of the borders of this great nation, The United States of America, perch the souls of human beings seeking refuge from the pomp of the old countries. Though the poem is not on the Statue of Liberty itself, it is emblazoned on the base upon which it stands, the foundation. Liberty stands on a willingness to welcome all to freedom and shelter in the face of persecution. Why not for refugees in caravans or one at a time?

Is it because of ethnicity? Would the Golden doors swing open with welcome if they were of some other racial or ethnic background? Is it because of the sexual persuasion of some of the refugees seeking safety from persecution? What about the continuous thousands of souls at the gate make them less important to enjoy the protections and freedoms of America? Are they not human enough?

So many questions have many possible answers. Mercy in the face of the tragedy of these people will be another opportunity for the American people to atone for the many mistakes made in the past with other groups. The privileged few who live in this nation of America speak out because of the leadership of the nation. They spoke out for or against, former Presidents, Bill Clinton, George Bush, Barrack Obama, Donald Trump, and other leaders. They speak out against President Joe Biden. They worry about how much petroleum will cost at the pump or if the leadership panders to one group or another. Sorrowfully, Americans may think less often of the huddled masses who long to join in the trivial banter of free people.

People who are told to go back to their own country when there is a national symbol of liberty that beckons to them to come to American shores. When did free people become selfish? When was the population in the United States such that it could not welcome thousands and millions more?

So that they will not drain on American resources, they cannot come in unless they can contribute to society. If they are homeless and downtrodden, there is nothing for them to contribute at this time unless they are nurtured into the liberties of this land and given the opportunity to find a way to contribute.

How unfortunate it would have been for the Mayflower if there stood guard people who would not let them land because they had nothing to contribute at the time they came upon the shores at Plymouth. Refugees, they were wanting the freedom to live as they chose. Interesting how the freedom to choose is determined by the people who get their liberty first. Are the freedoms Americans enjoy only meant for one nation?

What human awakes and thinks hate is where he or she belongs? Let them in.

In the name of all that is free and lovely, let them in.

By the truth of freedom to all God's children, let them in.

Give them shelter and a caring hand, let them in.

Slaves from the graves cry to let them in.

Let them in and be a refuge from the world.

Be the hope that caused them to travel thousands of miles to get a chance at freedom! Let them in!

If it were you or I looking at freedom from a distance, we'd want in!

With the promise of it to all who seek after liberty, we'd want in!

Would we do any less to obtain liberty?

Are people wrong for wanting it, daring to reach for a better life?

Fear casts out love and compassion. There are instigators at the border trying to make the message of freedom fall upon deaf ears as criminals follow the true seekers of freedom causing police to gas people to keep control.

The US is known as a Christian nation even still with all the changes in policy and laws in the past 60 years. Even those that do not practice the Christian faith must be covered by the freedoms inspired by the gifted men who acknowledged come from God. However, those freedoms do not end at US borders but are only recognized in the borders.

During a very trying time in US history when members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were being persecuted and driven from place to place because of their views about religion and slavery (abolitionist views), God spoke to the leader of their church at the time, Joseph Smith, Jr saying this:

And again I say unto you, those who have been scattered by their enemies, it is my will that they should continue to importune for redress, and redemption, by the hands of those who are placed as rulers and are in authority over you—according to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of ALL FLESH, according to just and holy principles; that every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment.

Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondageone to another. And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.

Appeal to the powers that be for redress, they were told. In this way, if America gives aid, the Lord could bless and prosper the whole nation. The Constitution, its principles apply to all people, in and out of the US. Any free society should have guiding principles like the US Constitution. If people cannot achieve that in other lands, Lady Liberty welcomes them with torch high to come to America.

While they wait to get in, love and kindness go a long way to heal the troubled hearts of new countrymen.