Go Back Where You Came From

In 1939, more than 900 Jewish passengers of the M.S. St. Louis sought asylum in Cuba, the United States, and Canada. They were told to go back where they came from. Two hundred fifty-four of them died in the Holocaust, and many more suffered from the Nazis in Europe. The excuses were the same then as we hear now—quotas, suspicion, and antisemitism. Immigration is still controversial, although each desperate person leaves home for fear of death. When we tell people to go back where they came from, we are telling them they are not valuable as human beings. We should be better than we were 84 years ago.