On this day in 1939, the MS St. Louis was turned away from the United States, and the 937 refugees — almost all Jewish — were sent back to Europe. While some found refuge, 254 of the ship’s passengers were killed in the Holocaust.
We widely look back on this event as a shameful moment in U.S. history, where immigration quotas and exclusionary immigration policies cost the lives of so many fleeing persecution. These policies were rooted in xenophobic, white nationalist ideologies about who “belonged,” and who did not “belong”, in the United States.
Today, similar ideologies and fear of outsiders drive immigration policies that threaten, damage, and in some cases directly cost more human lives. We watch attacks not only geared at stopping people from entering the country, but also expanding into targeting immigrants and refugees who are already living here.
Many of these actions are taken by this current administration in the false name of “Jewish safety” or “fighting antisemitism.” For instance, the Trump administration falsely justified their new travel ban as a response to recent attacks at Jewish gatherings.
But as American Jews, many of us with our own family and community histories of immigration or the pain of being unable to find safe haven or refuge, we recognize the danger in these policies. We know that this type of authoritarian approach to immigration does not end antisemitism or make Jews safer.
This approach even risks Jewish people becoming the face of other people’s oppression — further dividing us from our neighbors and hurting our chance to build a better future through solidarity.
We commit ourselves to the Jewish refrain: never again, not for anyone. On this anniversary and every day to come, we will fight until our country lives up to its promise to be a beacon of democracy and inclusivity for all who want to seek refuge here.
We’ve fought back against these harmful policies before and won; the U.S. became home to over 135,000 Holocaust survivors. We will continue fighting back until all are safe and free.
