Nothing to fear but demagogues

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!

- Emma Lazarus

Truth be told, those time-honored words from the poem "The New Colossus," which are engraved on a plaque inside the Statue of Liberty's pedestal, never rang completely true. Often, this country has not welcomed immigrants, including refugees from war-torn regions. So it's no surprise that 30 Republican governors, and one Democrat fighting for reelection, have vowed to block Syrian refugees from entering their states.

Their recalcitrant response to the terrorist attack in Paris, which left more than 120 people dead, is based on the discovery of a Syrian passport apparently possessed by a terrorist who pretended to be a peaceful migrant to enter Europe. It makes sense to be more vigilant after the Paris attack, but that vigilance should be rooted in the principles that are supposed to define America, which include extending a hand to refugees fleeing strife.

All the knee-jerk, anti-immigrant rhetoric bandied about by self-serving politicians, including most of the Republican presidential candidates, brings to mind an equally odious chapter in history when this country denied entry to an ocean liner with Jewish refugees escaping Nazi Germany. You can find the story on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum website (www.ushmm.org).

In 1939, the SS St. Louis sailed from Hamburg to Havana with 937 mostly Jewish passengers, the majority of whom had applied for visas to stay in the United States. After Cuban President Federico Laredo Brú refused to honor the passengers' landing certificates, the St. Louis sailed close enough to Miami to see its lights, but President Franklin D. Roosevelt would not respond to cables from the ship requesting refuge for its passengers. The ship was forced to return to Europe, where its passengers were dispersed in countries other than Germany. Most survived, but nearly 300 died in the Holocaust.

Roosevelt's turning a cold shoulder to the refugees aboard the St. Louis reflected the prevailing attitude of Americans prior to this country's entry into World War II. The Washington Post recently noted a poll published in a 1938 edition of Fortune magazine showing that less than 5 percent of Americans believed the immigration quotas that existed then should be raised to allow more refugees to enter the United States. In fact, two-thirds of those polled said steps should be taken to keep refugees out.

In a 1939 poll, 60 percent of Americans answered no when asked if the United States should permit 10,000 mostly Jewish children fleeing Germany to enter the country.

Mirroring the politicians of long ago, today's governors who want to make their states off-limits to Syrian refugees are sensitive to polls that show 70 percent of Republican voters are "very concerned" about radical Islamists mixing with the U.S. population. About 46 percent of Democrats and 30 percent of independents have the same level of concern.

"Who in their right mind would want to bring over tens of thousands of Syrian refugees when we cannot determine, when the administration cannot determine, who is and isn't a terrorist?" asked Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), perhaps the most conservative of the GOP presidential aspirants. His hyperventilating ignores that while no system is foolproof, the United States does have a very rigorous program to reduce the likelihood of a terrorist slipping in with legitimate refugees.

Indeed, the fact that it takes up to two years to complete the routine vetting process required under the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program's rules to resettle in this country severely limits its ability to help abate the crisis that has flooded Europe with migrants. To argue that the process isn't strict enough is a disingenuous attempt to exploit the understandable fears of Americans for personal political gain.

That's not the type of leadership this country needs. It sends the wrong message to disaffected Muslim youths in this country and elsewhere who may feel they have reason to believe the message of radical Islamists who tell them there is no place for them in America, who entice them to abandon their country and fight for an imaginary caliphate.

Years before he shunned the Jews aboard the St. Louis, Roosevelt told Americans trying to survive the Depression that they had nothing to fear but fear itself. That message needs to resonate again today. This nation cannot get so caught up in its fear of terrorism that it stops being what it has been to the rest of the world since its birth, a country that shines a welcoming beacon on those yearning for freedom and a better life.

Harold Jackson is The Inquirer's editorial page editor. hjackson@phillynews.com