Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright didn’t hold back Wednesday in response to Acting Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Ken Cuccinelli’s anti-immigrant rewrite of Emma Lazarus’ famous poem etched onto the Statue of Liberty.
Albright characterized Cuccinelli’s take on the poem as “completely un-American” during a CNN appearance Wednesday evening.
“I’ve been a refugee twice, once from the Nazis and we were in England, and then we came to the United States when the communists took over in Czechoslovakia,” Albright said. “And I think that it is one of the most un-American things I’ve ever heard.”
CNN noted that Albright, who is known for wearing decorative pins to convey her foreign policy stance, wore a Statue of Liberty pin on her jacket during her Thursday segment.
“I think the Statue of Liberty is weeping,” Albright said, before stating how she will “always remember” seeing the Statue of Liberty when she sailed by it coming to the United States.
Albright also argued that immigration policy during various periods in American history was “generous” and that the U.S. has benefited from the diversity that has resulted from immigration.
“We are forgetting that great history of our country,” Albright said.
Watch Albright’s response to Cuccinelli below:
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Cuccinelli's take on Emma Lazarus' poem is "completely un-American." pic.twitter.com/N3asSinvi7
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) August 15, 2019
