In 1939, hundreds of Jews boarded the SS St. Louis to flee from Nazi Germany. They were turned away from both Cuba and the United States and returned to Europe. 254 were murdered in the Holocaust.

Accepting refugees was a moral imperative the nation failed to recognize in 1939 and it cost lives. As a nation, we did not even issue all the available visas to Jews, Roma, and others targeted by the genocidal regime in Berlin out of misplaced xenophobic fears fed by unscrupulous liars.

After Trump's executive orders, we are now turning away people at the borders and detaining them at airports. While Yazidi people are being massacred and kidnapped for sex slavery, we are turning away refugees. While extremists are beheading people and committing other horrendous acts of violence and oppression, we are telling their victims there is no place for them here. We are closing our doors to desperate people in need of safety.

This is driven by misplaced xenophobic fears fed by unscrupulous liars. The idea of all Muslims as evil and dangerous is just as idiotic and ridiculous as the claim that Jews were all part of some conspiracy to control the world. The idea that Mexican immigrants, documented or not, are just horrendous criminals is false just like the lies printed by the Nazi press claiming Jews are inherently and genetically criminal. In fact, immigrants of all types are less likely to commit crimes than native born citizens. It is a lie that refugees are not vetted, the process takes years and is exceptionally thorough.

We are even now turning our back on interpreters and our supporters in Iraq and Afghanistan, whose lives were and are risked for their actions supporting US troops during the past decade and a half.

Yesterday was International Holocaust Memorial Day, and now we should be remembering how badly we failed the victims of the Nazis, those tired, poor, and huddled masses yearning to breathe free. We should be showing that we learned that bloody lesson and open our doors, our shores, and our hearts to refugees and immigrants. They want the American dream; a happy, safe, and educated family. They want to flee extremism, they do not support it.

Our nation should have learned a lesson from our failures to accept people who were later murdered in the Shoah. It seems many have already forgotten. It is our duty to remind them, and to stand with the oppressed and endangered people throughout the world.