I think that the author did a beautiful job contrasting the deep sense of loss that he felt for losing a single elm in his yard, and comparing it to the sense of loss that the Serb tree cutters must feel for having lost their entire homes & country, and been sent running for their lives -- not once but twice.
Current events notwithstanding, I believe that this will remain a land of refuge and that people with good hearts and a willing spirit will continue to be welcome here.
From your mouth to God's Ear and I truly hope so. But for that to be true, we must remain "the land of opportunity". We must remain "the Home of the Brave and Land of the Free". If we lose that idealism & honor, what we will get won't be those hardworking, stout-hearted immigrants, but rather a mass of lost souls with no intention of adapting, instead just figuring out how they can scam us and change our way of life to better fit their own misery.
You're absolutely right and, for the most part, the "lost soul" model is the model that we appear to have been operating in for some time now. I've met a number of gainfully employed, hard working immigrant people in past years and I'm thankful for them but believe that they are exceptions to the lost soul model.