We have been both beneficiaries and victims of American refugee policies: We’ve seen America at its best and its worst. We can’t let Trump betray our nation’s values.
Much has been written over the past few days about the Jewish community’s history as a people that was turned away. We truly are a refugee people, and we can recall the times America, true to its values, welcomed us. We also recall the ghosts of Jews who are not here with us because America refused them. We have seen America at its best, and we have seen it at its worst. In fact, the very basis of the international system of refugee protection, the 1951 International Refugee Convention, rose from the ashes of the Holocaust and one of these dark times in American history. It was created as a commitment to “never again.” Continue
