It says: We. Rabbis from across the country. call on our elected officials to exercise moral leadership for the protection of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. Since its founding. the United States has offered refuge and protection to the worlds most vulnerable. Time and time again. those refugees were Jews. Whether fleeing the pogroms in Tzarist Russia. the horrors of the Holocaust or persecution in Soviet Russia or Iran. our relatives and friends found safety on these shores. We are therefore alarmed to see so many politicians declaring their opposition to welcoming refugees. Last months heartbreaking attacks in Paris and Beirut are being cited as reasons to deny entry to people who are themselves victims of terror. And in those comments. we. as Jewish leaders. see one of the darker moments of our history repeating itself. They go on to talk about the United States turning away the SS St. Louis in 1939. and 900 Jews were sent back to Europe. The Holocaust Museum tells us that 200 of them perished in the Holocaust because the United States refused to accept them as refugees. They end by saying: As Rabbis. we take seriously the biblical mandate to "welcome the stranger." We call on our elected officials to uphold the great legacy of a country that welcomes refugees. I yield the floor.
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Refugee refugees