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President BidenJoe BidenCensus results show White House doubling down on failure Poll: Americans back new spending, tax hikes on wealthy, but remain wary of economic impact True immigration reform requires compromise from both sides of the aisle MOREsannouncementthis week that he will increase the annual refugee admissions cap to 62,500 for the fiscal year has triggered predictable howls of opposition. Sen. Tom CottonTom Bryant CottonOpposition to refugees echoes one of America's most shameful moments White House defends CDC outreach to teachers union Allowing a racist slur against Tim Scott to trend confirms social media's activist bias MORE (R-Ark.) falselyclaimed that Increasing the refugee admissions cap will put American jobs and safety at risk.House Minority Whip Steve ScaliseStephen (Steve) Joseph ScaliseCNN's Jake Tapper questions giving some GOP leaders airtime Pelosi mocks House GOP looking for 'non-threatening female' to replace Liz Cheney The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Emergent BioSolutions - Can Cheney defy the odds and survive again? MORE (R-La.)tweeted,Democrats are now considering sneaking mass amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants through Congress under the cover of the budget process.

These statementsecho a shameful moment 82 years ago when Congress considered a similar proposal for Jewish children seeking refuge from Nazi Germany. In fact, on May 5, 1939,a joint subcommittee of Congress approved bipartisan legislation to help those children. What happened to the bill is a little-known but repugnant stain on American values.

In November 1938, the Reichs official antisemitism took a new turn when violent riots against Jews spread across Germany and Austria. Businesses were destroyed, synagogues burned-down, Jews beaten and murdered.But America had no room for any additional refugees. Immigration law dating back to the 1920s capped visas from Germany at 27,370 a number that was reached almost instantly at the beginning of each year.

Two members of Congress formed an unlikely political alliance to respond. Sen. Robert Wagner (D-N.Y.) was a liberal firebrand, Tammany Hall Democrat and FDR loyalist who pushed elements of the New Deal through the Senate. Rep. Edith Rogers(R-Mass.) was a conservative Republican who graduated from a Paris finishing school and become a vociferous opponent of New Deal business regulations. In February 1939, they introduced a bill to lift caps on visas from Germany.

Wagner and Rogers crafted the bill to minimize opposition. The quota would be increased by 20,000, but over a two-year period.To address fears about immigrants taking jobs, new visas would be issued only to children under the age of 14.To ensure that no federal funds were used to support the child refugees, all applicants would have to prove that they would not become charges of the state. And to minimize antisemitic backlash, the word Jewish was excluded from the bill.

With those conditions, whocould oppose increasing the cap on refugees from children imperiled by Hitlers Reich? Initially, no one publicly, at least. The bill was supported by the American Federation of Labor, the Federal Council of Churches, former Republican presidential candidate Alf Landon, former Republican Governor Robert La Follete, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and even former Republican First Lady Grace Coolidge, who announced that she and her neighbors in Northampton, Mass., would personally care for 25 of the refugee children.

On April 20, in room 412 of the Russell Senate Office Building, a joint subcommittee opened hearings on the Wagner-Rogers proposal.That day, 14 witnesses testified in support, and only one against. But as debate continued over the next few weeks, opposition was mobilized. Francis Kinnicutt, president of theAllied Patriot Society, testified that immigrants may be suffering from some disease or insanity and that we dont want to be swamped with immigrants. J.E. Nieman of the Regular Veterans Association argued:The bringing of foreigners into the United States is a direct attack against our national defense program. America doesnt need foreigners.

Despite the attacks, the joint subcommittee voted on May 5 to report Wagner-Rodgers to their full respective committees.The opposition became louder and uglier.The very next day, Sen. Robert Reynolds (D-N.C.) strode to a stage at the Hotel Astor in New York and proclaimed opposition to the bill.Save America for Americans. The danger is from within. At a Washington cocktail party, Mrs. James H. Houghteling, wife of the commissioner of immigration, remarked that the problem with the bill was that 20,000 children would all too soon grow up into 20,000 ugly adults.

The bill was effectively killed in a feat that only the United States Congress could have pulled off having it both ways. On June 20 the full Senate Immigration Committee passed Wagner-Rogers but with a not-so-slight catch: 20,000 children would begranted visas, but only as part of the existing quota of 27,370. America would open its doors to them but shut it to most of the Jews still trying to flee Europe.Wagner was so enraged with the amendment that he ended up opposing his own bill.

We know how tragically this story ends for the vast majority of Jewish children facing persecution, oppression and tyranny in Nazi Germany: 1.5 million perished.

So, when I hear opponents of a modest plan to add 62,500 refugee visas forpeople facing life-threatening persecution, I think about what happened in May 1939 and the weeks that followed, when Congress failed so catastrophically.

Steve IsraelSteven (Steve) J. IsraelOpposition to refugees echoes one of America's most shameful moments White House races clock to beat GOP attacks Overnight Defense: Biden's stalled Pentagon nominee gets major support | Blinken presses China on North Korea ahead of meeting | Army will not return medals to soldier Trump pardoned MORE represented New York in the House over eight terms and was chairman with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee from 2011 to 2015. He is now the director of the Institute of Politics and Global Affairs at Cornell University. You can follow his updates@RepSteveIsrael.

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