Oprah Calls for Open Borders
Jose Nino
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Oprah Winfrey virtue signaled her support for open borders in a speech on Wednesday.
In an article for O, The Oprah Magazine, Jonathan Borge covered a speech Winfrey gave at a gala celebrating the new Statue of Liberty museum in New York.
According to Borge, “Oprah Winfrey wants less hate, more acceptance.”
Winfrey spoke to the press about the Statue of Liberty’s significance.
According to the Associated Press, she said, “It’s important that we establish that we are a country that has open arms and not closed borders for people. It’s important because we let people know why America is what it is. It’s about an ideal and that ideal is freedom for everybody.”
The talk show host gave her audience a history lesson about the Statue of Liberty, detailing how millions of immigrants came to America in search of a better life during the past century.
She highlighted their motives:
[They] came from famine in search of food, from poverty in search of opportunity. They came from violence in search of peace. They came from oppression in search of freedom. They were young, they were old, they were Jewish, they were Catholic, they were educated, they were not.
Winfrey added, “But for all their differences, each of them came seeking one thing: the American dream.”
She then turned the speech into a discussion about race noting that “Lady Liberty’s spirit of inclusion did not extend to people of color.”
Winfrey also described America as a “flawed society”.
We are and have always been a flawed society and what I know for sure is this: that we have made great strides and we have suffered tremendous defeat, but the wheel is still in spin as our country continues to evolve. And the dream, let me tell you, has not died. Because the dream is up to us.
The television host concluded her talk by calling on America to be more welcoming towards immigrants.
Is it possible that we can build bridges rather than walls? Would immigration be the hot-bed issue it is in our country if we could perhaps help people find safety and opportunity in theirs? Can we at the very least be humane when families approach us for sanctuary, regardless of whether or not we choose to provide it.
Winfrey’s speech will make for good headlines, but when it comes to substance it’s rather lacking.
For a start, immigration throughout the 19th and most of the 20th century was done in the context of a society without a welfare state. Immigrants that came to America either sank or swam.
Now that has changed thanks to the myriad of welfare programs present in the U.S. According to BLP reports, many immigrants end up relying on these programs, thus putting tremendous pressure on American taxpayers. This does not even mention the potential social effects mass migration has on societies, where immigrants have trouble assimilating or entering the workforce.
No amount of virtue signaling will change these harsh realities of the current mass migration paradigm.
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