Refugees can drive economic growth in faltering Midwest cities
As the grandson of Jewish grandparents who fled Poland in the early 20th Century only to have all of their remaining family perish in the Holocaust, I grew up with a strong belief in the United States as the world’s haven for those fleeing persecution, oppression and tyranny. I remember during my temple’s Sunday School classes learning the powerful words of Emma Lazarus that are inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty: “From her beacon-hand glows worldwide welcome . . . ‘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!’ ”
The gripping pictures of a lifeless Syrian boy — about the same age and dress as my own 2-year-old son Adiv — on a Turkish shore is enough to shock even the busiest American parent. Considering that the UN High Commission on Refugees has now registered more than 4 million Syrian refugees and some 2,500 refugees have perished at sea trying to escape the conflict, the humanitarian issues facing the current crisis are truly catastrophic.
Last week marked the fourth annual National Welcoming Week, during which communities across America celebrated the nation’s welcoming nature and the contributions that immigrants and refugees have made to our communities. The week’s events brought immigrants and refugees together with their neighbors in a spirit of unity.
Source: www.freep.com