January 27, 2017

A Heartstopping Reminder Of Why We Have Asylum Policies

Perhaps Trump should look at this before he signs the executive order banning refugees.


President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order dramatically reducing the number of refugees the United States admits as early as today—a stark choice of timing, as it is also International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

In 1939, American officials turned away a ship bearing more than 900 refugees, almost all of them German Jews. The St. Louis was forced to turn back, and 254 of its passengers died in the Holocaust. Today, the St. Louis Manifest account is tweeting the names of the victims.

See the US Holocaust Memorial Museum for more on the history of the St. Louis.

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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