PLATFORM : Let the Boat People In

I am a daughter of boat people. My parents were intercepted by the British in 1947 aboard illegal freighters, while trying to land in Palestine (the area under British rule). They were refugees of the Holocaust, looking for a place that would offer them safety, dignity and a chance to live a productive life, inspired by visions of freedom and independence. Instead they were interned in more camps, this time in Cyprus, and had to wait until the Jewish homeland that was sanctioned by the United Nations became a reality. They were lucky, unlike their brothers and sisters who were seeking refuge in the United States aboard the St. Louis during the Holocaust and were sent back to their deaths in Germany.

Less than a year ago, I took the pledge of allegiance, together with many other immigrants, as the last step toward becoming an American citizen. I did so because I felt that being an American meant having the freedom to be who I am and to become what I wanted to be, under the protection of a strong Constitution that guaranteed my rights.

I am convinced that this is what most of the Chinese, Haitian and other desperate refugees are starved for when they set their sights on America. They are coming for freedom, not just for money; they are after our values, not after our jobs. They are risking their lives and mortgaging their future for the chance to live and thrive in this country, not because “money grows here on trees,” but because freedom does.

Sometimes I feel that people who were born here take this heritage for granted, and forget what it feels like to want it so badly. The strength, the beauty and the future of this country lies in its willingness and ability to take in refugees and help them become productive and proud new Americans.

We must resist the urge to keep “the other” away from our shores. We cannot let the “St. Louis” happen all over again. We owe it to ourselves.