America is currently going through one of its periodic episodes where the advocacy of immigration ­restriction is fully on display. We hear discussions of walling off our country, of immigrants being vilified as criminals and security threats, and of immigration as a cause of economic decline, not economic renewal. Some politicians call for rejection of refugees, a refusal to allow resettlement of those fleeing persecution because of fear of those doing the persecuting.

Everything that is wrong with this ­restrictionist attitude can be illustrated with a true story—a true story that serves as a parable about the choices we make in immigration policy. This is the story of two boys who immigrated to the United States from the same city in the same year. They were not related and did not even know each other, but they fled to the United States at 8 and 10 years old. Life had become impossible for their families—it seemed the whole population of the country had turned against them. One boy’s father owned a store, which was destroyed and looted by a mob. The other boy’s father had a ­business, but had to spend everything he had to get himself and his family out. Eight and 10 years old, each of those boys came to the United States with little more than the clothes on their backs and a few relatives to take them in.

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