The Statue of Liberty’s words have been forgotten. The lessons of the Berlin Wall lost in the pages of history. The rise of the razor fences has begun. This nation created by immigrants for immigrants has turned its back on its founding principles. The injustice facing undocumented immigrants is a wrong that must be made right.

The power of an imaginary line drawn on a piece of paper by men hundreds of years ago is unjust. Being born on one side of the line offers a life of privilege and opportunity, on the other side, a life of poverty. Our border has become a line that separates the poor from the rich, the haves from the have-nots, the broken from hope.

There are those who would argue that we need to look out for our own citizens before we worry about others. All people are created equal and immigrants – even illegal ones – are people. The only difference between illegal immigrants and Americans is luck. Americans often get stuck in their identities and forget that by simple chance, they could have been born into a different family in a different country.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 22 million illegal immigrants, yet the deportations are few and far apart. It should be clear the status quo is what those in power prefer. The privileged patriotic patriarchs put politics and power ahead of historic promises when it serves their own needs.

Right now, there is a set limit to how many Mexicans can immigrate to America. The denied can immigrate anyway, illegally. The quotas must be repealed and a path to citizenship should be provided for them. This will not be easy or popular. There is a sizable group of Americans who support a isolationist xenophobic immigration policy. In fact, the Pew Research Center reports, only 17 percent of Americans favor increasing legal immigration. But we must remember that a sizable majority of Americans also opposed desegregating schools and interracial marriages.

Quotas are useless tools of prejudice. The quotas are never used to keep out Western European immigrants who fit into the mold created long ago. They are used to keep out those of different races and religions who challenge the status quo.

These quotas do not protect our economy. Sebastian Mallaby, director of the Mauirce R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, wrote in a column, “Economists have patiently explained for years that there is no finite ‘lump of labor’ in an economy. The presence of migrants causes new jobs to be created.” Aside from physical spacial limits, there is no economic limit to how many people can exist in a marketplace. If there are 300 million people in a country you might need 3,000 factories, if there are 500 million people in a country you might need 5,000 factories.

Who now remembers the promise written on the Statue of Liberty? “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.” It’s time we live up to that promise.