Idaho lawmaker who came to U.S. as a refugee offers opinion on resettlement debate
Idaho state Rep. Hy Kloc, who was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany at the end of World War II and came to America as a refugee, has sent out a guest opinion to Idaho newspapers on the current controversy over refugee resettlement. “My parents, my brother and I lived in that camp for three years awaiting permission to travel to America,” he wrote. “For us, like so many refugees, America was more than a place. It was the promise of a new life.”
He noted that also during World War II, the U.S. turned away the steamship St. Louis in 1939 with almost 1,000 Jewish refugees aboard, a quarter of whom were killed in the Holocaust after they were returned to Europe; and that Japanese Americans were interned in camps in the U.S. during the war due to fear of saboteurs. “Today, we look upon both of these actions as casting a shadow of shame on our nation,” Kloc wrote. “And if we don’t learn from our mistakes, we are doomed to repeat them.”
He said the plight of Syrian refugees reminds him of his family and their experiences, “and the other families on board that ship that sailed into New York Harbor on a cold winter day more than six decades ago under the watchful eye of the Statute of Liberty.”
“America is a beacon of hope to the world,” Kloc wrote. “We must not allow fear to rule our judgment and make a mockery of everything we hold most dear.” He called on Idahoans to contact their elected officials and urge them to “support the promise that makes America great.” You can read his full article here.
