President Trump has repeated shameful American history in denying access to desperate refugees. Many were fleeing for their lives.

Friday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day. For me, that means honoring the millions of victims, including close family members, murdered by the Nazis. They included Jews, gays, the disabled, Jehovah’s Witnesses, political opponents, etc., etc.  

I strongly believe the only significant way we can honor these victims is to ensure that all people are not victimized because of their skin color, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, country of origin, etc.

In 1939, the ship the St. Louis sailed for Havana, Cuba with 937 Refugees, mostly Jews escaping the impending Holocaust. Only a handful were admitted to Cuba and the rest were denied access.  The desperate refugees pleaded with the US Immigration authorities to allow them safe haven in the US.  President Roosevelt chose to ignore their pleas and the ship, 90 miles from safety, sailed back to the dangers in Europe. Fortunately, many of these refugees did survive, but 254 were murdered in the Holocaust.  Roosevelt and the US government had the power to allow 254 refugees to live and they turned their backs on them.

https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005267

On Friday, Holocaust Remembrance Day, President Trump issued an executive order barring immigrants from certain Muslim countries, from entering the US.  His rationale was to stop terrorists from entering the US. Once again there were desperate refugees in peril. Only this time, many were already in the US, having just landed at different airports with previously legal entry documents.  These immigrants underwent extensive scrutiny prior to obtaining legal entry but they were now trapped by Trump’s orders.  Two federal judges were able to issue emergency stays to allow these refugees to remain in the US, at least until the courts decided on the legitimacy of the executive order.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/28/us/refugees-detained-at-us-airports-prompting-legal-challenges-to-trumps-immigration-order.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=span-ab-top-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

It’s of great interest to me that five predominantly Muslim countries were not included in Trump’s executive order: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Lebanon, The United Arab Emirates and Egypt. Of the 19 hijackers involved in the 911 terrorist attacks, 15 were from Saudi Arabia, 2 from the United Arab Emirates, and 1 each from Egypt and Lebanon.  Osama bin Laden was found and killed by US Special Forces in Pakistan within 1 mile of the Pakistan Military Academy.

I am deeply troubled that President Trump has obviously not learned from the lessons of the Holocaust and on the very day of honoring past victims has potentially signed death warrants for some desperate and innocent refugees.