Mark Twain once said “history doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes.” On May 13 1939, 935 Jews set sail from Hamburg, Germany, on a ship called the St. Louis. Almost all of the Jews were fleeing from the Third Reich. The ship was headed to Cuba. The majority of the passengers applied for U.S. visas and planned to move from Cuba to the U.S. once the visas became available for them.

As reported by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, by the time the St. Louis set sail, there were indications that political conditions in Cuba might keep the passengers from entering the country. The U.S. Consulate in Havana, Cuba, and the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C. were aware of the situation. Jewish organizations from the United States tried to negotiate with the Cuban government to let the passengers into the country. However, in the end most of the passengers were not admitted.

After most of the passengers on the ship were not admitted into Cuba, the ship sailed to Miami, Florida. When the ship was a few miles away from Miami’s harbor, the Coast Guard signaled to the ship that it was not allowed to come into America. The ship returned to Europe, where 254 of the passengers ended up dying in the Holocaust.

Seventy eight years later, as reported by The New York Times, on January 27, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order that closed America’s borders to refugees worldwide—causing refugees who are fleeing the massacre in Syria to be blocked from the country. However, as reported by The Seattle Times, on February 3 a judge in Seattle halted Trump’s immigration order nationwide. As of February 6, the White House vows to fight this decision, which could go to the Supreme Court.

This executive order was meant to ensure that radical Islamic terrorists would not enter the U.S. “We don’t want them here,” Trump said. “We want to ensure that we are not admitting into our country the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas. We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country, and love deeply our people.”

This is “immoral as well as unconstitutional,” wrote Cecillia Wang, the American Civil Liberties Union Deputy Legal Director, who argues that the executive order violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by discriminating against Muslims. “[Trump] is barring the entry of modern-day counterparts of the passengers of the St. Louis.”

de Toledo High School’s values, such as engaging in Tikkun Olam (repairing the world), make clear that welcoming others, especially when they are in a helpless position, is imperative.  As Jewish teenagers, it is imperative that we lead by example, showing others how to help people who are in a vulnerable situation. As Jews, we understand how it feels to not be accepted into a country when we are helpless. Therefore, we should do everything in our power to help the defenseless, and we should hope that America will do the same.