On August 13, 2019, acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services Ken Cuccinelli released a portion of his updated version of the iconic poem on the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal. It included the line, “Give me your tired, your poor, who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge.”
Here are a few other edits he’s made to some American favorites:
This land is my land, this land is my land
From the Mexican border, to Rikers Island
From detention centers, to the sprawling suburbs,
This land was made for you and me – providing you are white and were born here.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
Because I was carrying a concealed weapon and knew I could defend myself.
O immigrant! You immigrant! Your fearful trip is done,
Your ship has weather’d every rack, the prize you sought is won –
assuming that prize is an all-expenses trip to a detention center
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
I’m a scared white man in the age of #MeToo
Listen, my children, across the land
To the tale of a midnight crossing of the Rio Grande.
If you come illegally, regardless of your age,
You could end up inside a cage
Oh, say does that star spangled banner yet wave,
For the land of the free, and the home of the brave people who still say
“Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays”
Phenomenal woman,
That’s you – provided you allow old men to control what goes on in your uterus.