On Tuesday night, Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, attempted to explain the new Trump rule on issuing green cards, which is not really new. Basically, it says that immigrants who come here seeking public assistance would not receive green cards.

Allowing immigrants who are self-sufficient is not only sensible, but historic. For example, immigrants who came through Ellis Island at the beginning of the 20th century had to answer questions about where they were going, if they had relatives in America who could vouch for them, and if they had employment waiting. My grandparents from Eastern Europe had to go through that trial.

The manifest for my grandfather’s arrival at Ellis Island. Personal collection.

But they apparently had white privilege or something. Because on CNN, Erin Burnett implied that the new law somehow violated the Emma Lazarus poem on the base of the Statue of Liberty.

Here’s the passage in question as taken from Emma Lazarus’s poem “The New Colossus:”

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.”

Never mind that these words are not part of our laws or the Constitution. Moreover, Lazarus wrote the poem in 1883 as part of a fundraiser to raise money for a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty. But the words are inspiring and grand and feelings. 

Cuccinelli explained that first of all, the United States has historically welcomed self-sufficient immigrants. But then he told Erin Burnett at CNN that the “wretched refuse” referred to “people coming from Europe where they had class based societies where people were considered wretched if they weren’t in the right class.”

And, of course, the media and Democrats twisted those words and began screaming raaaciiist!

Here’s Cuccinelli giving Burnett a history lesson while she screws up her face like a gurner at the county fair.

Other media sources pounced on Cuccinelli, such as the New York Times:

“Trump Official: Statue of Liberty Poem Is About Europeans” 

And The Hill:

“Cuccinelli: Statue of Liberty poem refers to people from Europe”

Then the New York Daily News really went for Cuccinelli’s throat:

“Statue of Liberty poem was only supposed to welcome white immigrants ‘from Europe,’ Cuccinelli says”

Now you know that if the media are getting into a pile-on, the Democrats jump in, too. They just can’t help themselves.

Like Beto O’Rourke, a zombie presidential candidate. His candidacy is dead, but he doesn’t know it yet. Still, he persists in trying to be relevant:

“This administration finally admitted what we’ve known all along: They think the Statue of Liberty only applies to white people.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren also weighed in:

“Our values are etched in stone on the Statue of Liberty. They will not be replaced.”

Allow me to reiterate here: “The New Colossus” is not part of our codified laws, and as an attorney you’d think Warren would know this. But once again — feelings. 

And finally, you know that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will also have some hair-on-fire comment, and “for the love of everyone double check your voter registration.” 

This man is acting Director of Citizenship & Immigration Services.

For the love of everyone, double check your voter registration status + register if you haven’t: https://t.co/rEWGVIw1Lo https://t.co/yreZGA6txF

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 14, 2019

However, Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo, a liberal website, should get points for trying to get the history correct:

3/ in other words, the doors were open for Tom in addition to Lord Grantham.

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 14, 2019

So Erin Burnett failed at her history when she tried to insist that her poor Scottish ancestors wouldn’t be allowed into the United States today. Wealth was not then and is not now the deciding factor when immigration authorities authorize green cards. In fact, as Cuccinelli pointed out, they consider a “totality” of factors, one of which includes self-sufficiency.

But never mind the facts. The media and Democrats can never pass up the opportunity to scream racist at a member of the Trump administration.

Credit: skeeze/pixabay/cropped.