They Are Our Children Now

"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-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus wrote these powerful words in 1883 in support of indigent Russian Jewish refugees who came to America to escape persecution. Emma died in 1887 without knowing her impact.

In 1903, her great sonnet "The New Colossus" was made a permanent part of the Statue of Liberty. Since then, it has signified the statue's beacon of hope for each new generation of immigrants.

Today, more than a century later, the words of a poet have more power, influence and moral authority than all the protesters who decry "illegal" immigration.

Franklin Roosevelt said, "Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists."

It's literally true for everyone except Native Americans. The idea that some people, especially children, can be "illegal" is a misnomer of biblical proportions.

Dennis Kucinich said it best: "I take issue with many people's description of people being illegal immigrants. There aren't any illegal Human Beings as far as I'm concerned."

The question must be asked. Where is the empathy or Christian charity among those who protest children? Did these children choose their fate? Did they maliciously and knowingly choose to be born into poverty and strife? The idea is as absurd as protesting their presence.

The idea of sending these children away is inhumane, inexcusably hateful and morally reprehensible.

There is no justification for the conduct of these protesters. They are exhibiting misplaced anger, fear and bigotry. There is not a drop of Christian behavior among the lot.

This is not a game of political football. This is about America's basic humanity. These are innocent children who have been sent here by desperate parents. Opposition to helping them is beyond anything an American should even consider.

Almost everyone involved with the "send them away" protests is making a mockery of their Christianity and the Christian principles they claim to uphold.

They should be thumped on the head with their Bibles and told to read Mark 10:13-16 about Jesus and the children.

Mark wrote the following...

People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them: "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

And from Matthew about Judgment Day: "Most certainly I tell you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."

How can any American, Christian or not, turn away innocent children? It is unfathomable. It is sickeningly shameful and those who protest the presence of orphaned or abandoned children should pray to their God for forgiveness because they have no claim on Christianity.

If the protesters truly believe in Judgment Day, they should be very, very worried.