The New Colossus

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-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

- Emma Lazarus, 1883

Since 1886, The Statue of Liberty has welcomed people to US shores. It is a symbol of many things - freedom, democracy, liberty, justice - but especially that the United States is a land of opportunity for all. In 1903, a bronze plaque with Emma Lazarus' poem, The New Colossus, was mounted on the statue's pedestal. It makes a beautiful and brazen statement to the other countries of the world... It is unfortunate that the words are not truer.

Pictured here in aerial view, The Phoenix, AZ, airport, is one many US International ports of entry.