Florida Liberal Compares Rick Scott's Opposition to Syrian Immigrants to Turning Back on Jews Fleeing Nazi Germany

Susan Smith, the president of the Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida, compared Gov. Rick Scott to American officials who did not let Jewish refugees immigrate from Germany in the late 1930s for opposing bringing Syrian refugees into the Sunshine State. 

Scott said on Monday he did not want to bring Syrian refugees into Florida. At least one of the Islamic terrorists involved in last week’s Paris attack came to France posing as  Syrian refugee. 

Smith pointed to theSt. Louis which tried to port in Miami back in 1939 to allow Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany to come to America. 

“Gov. Scott's demand that Congress act to prevent Syrian refugees from settling in Florida, reminds me of another shameful time in U.S. history," Smith said on Tuesday. "Seventy-six years ago, the S.S. St. Louis, carrying almost 1,000 Jews seeking refuge from the Nazis, was refused entry into the United States. Those refugees were forced to return to Germany where many of them did not survive the Holocaust.
 
"Republican governors and politicians are feeding hysteria that threatens to poison our country for years to come," Smith added. "By falling into this trap, we inadvertently support and further the mission of ISIS to foment hatred and division, and we will once again find ourselves on the wrong side of history.

"In school, we all learn the words to the poem which is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty," Smith said. "''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!’ And who, today, is more tempest-tossed than Syrian refugees? No one is suggesting that we open our borders without security checks. But as leaders on the global stage, we have a responsibility and an opportunity to demonstrate the values on which our country was founded: welcoming those who seek safety and freedom from oppression.  We can do better. We must do better."