In May of 1939, the German liner St. Louis sailed to Cuba with 937
passengers, most of them Jews fleeing the Third Reich. The bulk of the
Jewish passengers had applied for U.S. visas and planned to stay in
Cuba, but anti-Semitic protests prevented them from even disembarking
there. After intense negotiations to try to have Cuba accept the
refugees failed, the United States turned the ship away, and the
passengers were forced to return to Europe. One-third of them were
ultimately exterminated by the Nazis. It was a shameful chapter in our history. Those harsh forces are
still at work around the globe, and it is those very same aspirational
principles that drive so many immigrants to come to this great Nation. The idea that someone such as Mr. Bannon has actively worked to
oppose these values in the past sickens me.
Keywords matched
visas immigrants refugees