When U.S. governors ship immigrants out of their states, exploiting them, in the same manner as federal politicians, for political advantage, they treat them as trash to be removed rather than human beings in search of better lives.
Compassion, morality, and benevolence all call for welcoming immigrants.
Consider the parable of the good Samaritan and its question, “Who is my neighbor?”
Consider Kant’s Formulation of Humanity of the categorical imperative:
“So act that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end, never merely as a means.”
And consider the poem “The New Colossus,” inscribed on a plaque displayed with the Statue of Liberty:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
We could ask politicians, “Have you no shame?” But we need not; we know the answer.
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In “Open the Borders Pending the End of Borders” (July 21, 2014), I discuss the parable of the good Samaritan.
