“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” (Lazarus, 1883). This poem, which is engraved upon the Statue of Liberty, has been used to represent America’s dedication to provide open doors to immigrants, but it does not tell the whole-truth of the matter. To determine the validity Emma Lazarus’ Magnum Opus, one must look at the history of those immigrants, and how they have been treated in the United States.
The United States has taken form due the cultures and experiences of immigrants from around the world. While the early years of immigration mostly consisted of Irish and English …show more content…
This period saw the formation of the Know-Nothings Party, a political party geared towards anti-Catholicism and anti-Immigration, which encouraged public ousting and mistreatment of Irish immigrants claiming that the Catholics would lead to the Pope having power in American Society (Diner, n.d.). At the start of World War I, public ire turned toward German-Americans. At the start of the war the United States had intended to stay neutral, but as the war went the government slowly turned in favor of the Allies and the public began to paint the Germans was uncivilized brutes. German-Americans were all potentially disloyal and conceivably spies, and out of fear, or hatred, Americans participated in acts of vigilantism where they led, according to “German-Americans” (2017, para. 15), “lynchings, beatings, and the tarring and featherings of war opponents.” One of the more memorable events of xenophobia in United States history was the rejection of St. Louis, a ship carrying almost 1000 refugees from Eastern Europe during the early days of Hitler’s reign. The St. Louis was originally intended to land in Cuba, but by the time the ship had arrived the Cuban people had enacted a ban on European refugees and did not allow the ship to stay in port for more than 5 days. …show more content…
After McKinley’s death to a Polish anarchist, Congress legislated the Anarchist Exclusion Act, which barred political extremists from entering the country (“Timeline,” n.d.). The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 was extremely vague in defining what is and is not a terroristic organization, so much so that the State department can effectively name any group it wants this title. This Act has named almost exclusively foreign entities as terroristic groups, with no mention of native organizations like the Ku Klux Klan. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act can and has been used to strip aliens of their due process rights for association, direct or otherwise, with any group deemed by the State department to be a terroristic organization, with most cases brought against people of Arab descent (Farnam,
The United States has taken form due the cultures and experiences of immigrants from around the world. While the early years of immigration mostly consisted of Irish and English …show more content…
This period saw the formation of the Know-Nothings Party, a political party geared towards anti-Catholicism and anti-Immigration, which encouraged public ousting and mistreatment of Irish immigrants claiming that the Catholics would lead to the Pope having power in American Society (Diner, n.d.). At the start of World War I, public ire turned toward German-Americans. At the start of the war the United States had intended to stay neutral, but as the war went the government slowly turned in favor of the Allies and the public began to paint the Germans was uncivilized brutes. German-Americans were all potentially disloyal and conceivably spies, and out of fear, or hatred, Americans participated in acts of vigilantism where they led, according to “German-Americans” (2017, para. 15), “lynchings, beatings, and the tarring and featherings of war opponents.” One of the more memorable events of xenophobia in United States history was the rejection of St. Louis, a ship carrying almost 1000 refugees from Eastern Europe during the early days of Hitler’s reign. The St. Louis was originally intended to land in Cuba, but by the time the ship had arrived the Cuban people had enacted a ban on European refugees and did not allow the ship to stay in port for more than 5 days. …show more content…
After McKinley’s death to a Polish anarchist, Congress legislated the Anarchist Exclusion Act, which barred political extremists from entering the country (“Timeline,” n.d.). The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 was extremely vague in defining what is and is not a terroristic organization, so much so that the State department can effectively name any group it wants this title. This Act has named almost exclusively foreign entities as terroristic groups, with no mention of native organizations like the Ku Klux Klan. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act can and has been used to strip aliens of their due process rights for association, direct or otherwise, with any group deemed by the State department to be a terroristic organization, with most cases brought against people of Arab descent (Farnam,