WATCH: Melanie Nezer's TED Talk on Why Asylum is a Fundamental Right

HIAS Senior Vice President for Public Affairs Melanie Nezer shares an urgently needed historical perspective on the crisis at the southern U.S. border, showing how citizens can hold their governments accountable for protecting the vulnerable. "A country shows strength through compassion and pragmatism, not through force and through fear," she says.

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxMidAtlantic, an independent event.