Reply #14: Actually the inscription on the Statue of Liberty makes no distinction between legal and illegal

[pampango]

immigrants. It refers only to "your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost".

Since that description almost precisely describes the "illegal immigrants" of our era, it is lucky for you that the Statue's inscription is just a nice sentiment (like the Declaration of Independence), not a real law. The irony is that most who rail against "illegal immigration" would also oppose new laws that expanded legal immigration significantly ("Give me your tired, your poor...). Makes one wonder whether the real issue is that they're "illegal" or that they're "immigrants".

Here's the whole inscription:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
' With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"