Dear Friend,
Several years ago I visited Ellis Island. It was there over a hundred years ago that all four of my grandparents entered this country, fleeing oppressive circumstances in Eastern Europe and Russia. Across the harbor from Ellis Island stands the Statue of Liberty, on the base of which are inscribed these amazing words from the poem The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “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!”
Lady Liberty greeted the more than 12 million immigrants who came through Ellis Island during the 62 years that it was opened. And for more than two centuries those words felt like our national creed. We welcomed those who had come to America in search of a better life.
The immigrant story of today contains no less richness, variety, and contribution than it did a hundred or two hundred years ago. Immigrants to this country continue to be contributors to our very lifeblood as a nation. Yet things have changed. Today’s immigration policies often reflect a narrow-mindedness that has set into this country, reflecting not the open heartedness of the Statue of Liberty but an almost draconian attitude toward immigrants. How far we have come from the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, signed by Ronald Reagan and granting amnesty to about 3 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. America’s immigration policies over the last few years have gone from a source of national pride to situations (such as family separation) that have been a source of national shame.
It is woven into the fabric of our nation that we are to be a beacon of light, a pillar of hope, when one is lost at sea. Yet that fabric has been rent, and our task is to create a season of repair. In rebuilding our immigration system, we need a policy of doors and not walls. Our immigration process should show respect for international law, protecting the rights of due process and human dignity of people simply seeking a better life.
I’m deeply disturbed at the recent reports of President Biden possibly reinstating policy which will detain immigrant families in ICE or CBP custody in their efforts to seek asylum. I support the brave coalition of 383 groups sending a letter that calls on the president to keep the pledge he made when he took office in 2021, "to end family detention and to pursue just, compassionate, and humane immigration policies”, and I share their demands.
The reality is, over the last decade, undocumented immigration has been going down. The actual rate of criminality among immigrants—even the undocumented—is lower, not higher, than the rate of criminality among our non-immigrant citizens. Both documented and undocumented immigrants are 46% less likely than native-born U.S. citizens to commit a crime or be incarcerated.
In a Williamson Administration, we will support comprehensive immigration reform with a clear, transparent path to citizenship, end family separation, and take immediate action to locate children torn from their families by prior administrations and reunite them. We will abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, and establish an Office of Citizenship, Refugees, and Immigration Services under the Department of Labor. The funding that currently goes to ICE will be redirected to processing centers that connect and provide immigrants and refugees with the resources they need in order to integrate successfully into American society.
Our job is to create a vision of justice and love that is so powerful that it will override the forces of hatred, injustice, and fear. As your president, I promise to see this vision through.
With gratitude and devotion to the America that still can be,
