In 1939, 937 Jewish refugees, half of whom were children and women, boarded the SS St. Louis in Hamburg, Germany. They were fleeing persecution under the brutal Nazi regime, and left their homes in search of a safe haven across the Atlantic.

Ultimately, President Roosevelt barred the ship from docking in Florida, forcing passengers as young as one to return to a nightmare of violence and brutality back home.

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History does not look kindly upon President Roosevelt’s hardline stance on refusing Jews sanctuary in the U.S. Like this shortsighted decision by FDR to blockade our borders in the name of national security, President Trump’s executive orders to ban refugees fleeing war and suffering in their home countries will firmly place this action on the wrong side of history.

Let’s be clear: this decision to restrict travel from seven Muslim-majority countries and suspend refugee admissions for 120 days will be devastating for children already mired in terrible circumstances, and will cost many precious lives.

Today, approximately 50 million children worldwide have been uprooted from their homes, and are now engulfed in the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II.

They have fled conflict in places like Nigeria and Iraq, poverty in countries like Somalia, and gang violence in nations like Honduras and El Salvador. Five of the most dangerous countries on earth for children, identified by the United Nations as Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, have made President Trump’s blacklist.

The Syrian conflict alone has resulted in 2.2 million child refugees in the Middle East; there are also more than 5.8 million children still living in Syria, imperiled by war and a dearth of lifesaving resources, who need our help.

"Trump's immigration ban Executive Order is clumsy, but perfectly legal" https://t.co/Cee8nnxZui pic.twitter.com/vw8TpZHy2d — The Hill (@thehill) January 30, 2017

Many of these stateless children have found refuge in our country, which has been a beacon of hope and harbor of safety for centuries. Until last week, the quote on the Statue of Liberty, “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” written in 1883, rang true.

Today’s international refugee and migrant crisis has created a lost generation of children who have been denied basic essentials: a roof over their heads, classrooms to learn in and adequate food to eat. The suffering of these children, the most vulnerable among us, is a catastrophe; it’s hard for many of them to dream of thriving from the squalor of a refugee camp in Jordan, or on a life raft on the Mediterranean somewhere between Libya and Italy.

President Trump’s swift, sweeping action is an ominous harbinger for what is to come for at-risk refugee children around the globe.

His orders and rhetoric fuel discrimination against entire countries and religions. When he says that Americans have “suffered enough” from refugee resettlement, it not only marginalizes those seeking freedom here; it is also at odds with our cherished national values.

During the 20th Century, Germans fleeing Hitler, Russians and Cubans leaving communist regimes, and Vietnamese escaping post-war hardship, all looked to America as a place to rebuild their lives. We opened our doors — that’s who we are. And we should do so again.

Moreover, the rushed ordinance issued last Friday left the nation in chaos. Airports became de facto law offices and protest zones. Grassroots protests emerged in more than 30 cities across the country, including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Boston. Judges, like Brooklyn federal judge Ann Donnelly, took action to block the ban.

And to date, roughly 1,000 members of the U.S. State Department have signed a dissent memo, stating that President Trump’s executive order is counter to sound foreign and economic policy, and our moral compass.

While the debate on the legality, and ethicality, of this ban rages on, children around the world continue to suffer. Unlike during the campaign, President Trump is now responsible for the fate of millions of young refugees.

History will reflect on these executive orders, and these dark days, and wonder how the American government failed to comprehend the dire consequences of sealing its borders and retreating from the world.

Naomi Post is the executive director of the Children’s Defense Fund — New York.

The views of contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.