Regardless of Roosevelt's motives, the Commander and Chief missed opportunities both at war and at home to save Jewish lives. One of the most devastating decisions was the nation's refusal to change its immigration policies. The tangles of bureaucracy, deep-rooted anti-Semitism, and a fear of the economic effects seem to have caused the inflexibility. One politician recognizes that "it should have been a crisis, but there wasn't enough passion in America to let them in." He's still haunted by a story of a boat full of Jewish refugees who managed to escape from Hamburg, Germany, and traveled to America, only to be refused asylum. They ventured down to Cuba, where they were again refused entrance. Left with no other option—the Jews "returned to Hamburg to burn."