Local opinion: The Statue of Liberty's promise is under siege

On Feb. 22, 2025, spectators at El Capitan’s Horsetail Fall witnessed more than just a glowing ribbon of water emulating molten lava called the Firefall. They were greeted with the United States flag unfurled and displayed upside-down by employees at Yosemite National Park. The symbol of an upside-down flag dates back to the Revolutionary War and is described in John Locke’s Second Treatise on Government as an “Appeal to Heaven” from disgruntled colonists. Locke believed that people could appeal to a higher power when faced with distress and no sign of an earthly, legal recourse.

Prior to the series of massive federal layoffs leading up to Feb. 22, a group of individuals in Springfield, Ohio, were the canaries in a proverbial political coal mine. During the September 2024 Presidential debate, candidate Donald Trump stated, “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats.” This baseless claim brought attention to an industrious Haitian community whose presence was able to revive the failing Springfield economy. By creating small businesses and their sheer willingness to work shifts many local American residents found to be undesirable, this legal immigrant community was a compelling factor in convincing manufacturing companies to stay in the area.

Towards the end of September, following bomb and death threats, Springfield’s Haitian community of about 20,000 immigrants filed criminal charges against Trump and JD Vance due to false claims regarding immigration status and defamation. These events signaled that all may not be well under a possible Trump administration.

As of this February, legal immigrants of temporary status across the United States are facing the threat of deportation due to Executive Order 14159 ending humanitarian parole for immigrants from Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. For Haitians, the protections of this temporary status have been shortened from 18 to 12 months with a new end date of Aug. 3, 2025. Meanwhile, days shortly after a televised White House meeting where a heated exchange took place with President Trump and Vice President Vance painting Ukrainian President Zelenskyy as a disrespectful dictator, the Trump-Vance administration is now considering revoking temporary protections for Ukrainians.

Just like with the earlier colonists, immigration to the United States has been one way to escape civil unrest alongside religious and political oppression to start anew someplace else. The Statue of Liberty, maintained by the National Park Service, symbolizes many things including enlightenment and progress. Inscribed next to the statue are lines from the sonnet “The New Colossus,” written by Emma Lazarus in 1883. Lazarus herself was of Portuguese Sephardic Jewish descent and described the statue as a symbol of immigration and opportunity. According to the sonnet, Lady Liberty cries with silent lips “Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!”

A sign the United States’ democracy is no longer operating according to its basic tenets and ideals includes using immigration as a political weapon against other countries, religions, racial and ethnic groups with the result of harming innocent people from foreign lands — principles contrary to what the Statue of Liberty declares.

Will Americans choose to appeal to a higher power, like our early American forefathers and those who arrived before them, by advocating for those who are tired and poor? If so, we must take into consideration the modern-day immigrant who has been willing to put in hard work to benefit the United States’ economy in exchange for freedom from poverty and civil unrest, not unlike places such as Haiti and Ukraine. Or will Americans choose to stay quiet against all injustices towards immigrants and citizens alike, to only leave the torch of hope and progress forever dimmed at the shores of Ellis Island?