The Truth is More Powerful than Blood Relations
White House advisor Stephen Miller and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) are two of the most prominent architects of the Republicans’ cruel and cynical attacks on immigrants and refugees. Yet, family members of both are now speaking out against this unprecedented assault on our foundational values.
In a blistering opinion piece for Politico, Stephen Miller’s uncle, David Glosser, blasts his nephew’s immigration worldview and hypocrisy, noting, “If my nephew’s ideas on immigration had been in force a century ago, our family would have been wiped out.” Rep. Goodlatte’s son announced on Twitter that he would be supporting the Democratic candidate running to fill his retiring father’s congressional seat, Jennifer Lewis. We salute them for their courage to speak out. As they say, family knows best.
We excerpt key sections of the Politico opinion piece below:
I have watched with dismay and increasing horror as my nephew, who is an educated man and well aware of his heritage, has become the architect of immigration policies that repudiate the very foundation of our family’s life in this country.
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Like other immigrants, our family’s welcome to the USA was not always a warm one, but we largely had the protection of the law, there was no state sponsored violence against us, no kidnapping of our male children, and we enjoyed good relations with our neighbors. True, Jews were excluded from many occupations, couldn’t buy homes in some towns, couldn’t join certain organizations or attend certain schools or universities, but life was good. As in past generations there were hate mongers who regarded the most recent groups of poor immigrants as scum, rapists, gangsters, drunks and terrorists, but largely the Glosser family was left alone to live our lives and build the American dream. Children were born, synagogues founded, and we thrived. This was the miracle of America.
[…]
Trump and my nephew both know their immigrant and refugee roots. Yet, they repeat the insults and false accusations of earlier generations against these refugees to make them seem less than human. Trump publicly parades the grieving families of people hurt or killed by migrants, just as the early Nazis dredged up Jewish criminals to frighten and enrage their political base to justify persecution of all Jews. Almost every American family has an immigration story of its own based on flight from war, poverty, famine, persecution, fear or hopelessness. These immigrants became the workers, entrepreneurs, scientists and soldiers of America.
