A Shared Shelter

There is a kind of decision a country makes quietly, without press conferences: whether to look away, or to open the door. When families began arriving on our southern border with nothing but what they could carry, we chose to open it.

It was not, and is not, a simple choice. Resources are finite, and our own citizens have their own needs that must be met. But a nation that was itself born from displacement and loss understands, perhaps more than most, what it means to have nowhere else to go.

I am proud of what our people did in those months and the years since: sharing land, food and patience with people who had lost everything else. It is one of the responsibilities of leadership to make room for compassion even when it is costly.