We applaud President Joe Biden’s decision for the United States to accept 100,000 refugees fleeing Russia’s war on Ukraine.

True the decision does not compare in impact with the other announcements made in Biden’s three-day trip to Europe – billions in additional military and humanitarian aid, an increase in sanctions on Russia and a plan to reduce Europe’s reliance on Russian energy.

Nor does the plan of 100,000 refugees compare to what neighboring European countries have already done in accepting more than three million Ukrainians fleeing an attack by Putin that has targeted people in their homes.

Poland, which had a population of less than 40 million before the war, has alone already accepted two million refugees.

Still, Biden’s decision is important in both lending a needed hand to Europe in the enormous costs of accepting the largest volume of refugees in Europe since World War II and as a symbolic gesture from a country that has always prided itself on being a beacon of hope.

Biden’s decision to accept the 100,000 refugees also puts to a test the vision of the United States embodied by Emma Lazarus’ words on the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.”

Or more recently, the words of President Ronald Regan in his farewell address when he explained his vision of America as a city on a hill and concluded: “if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here.”

The truth is that there has always been a second, less welcoming vision of America in which newcomers were greeted with hostility and, beginning in the 1920s, restricted from entering even as the threat of war and the Holocaust rose.

This dark vision was raised to new heights by President Donald Trump, who tried to bar people from Muslim majority countries from entering our shores and derided protections for “shithole countries” when discussing immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries during discussions of a bipartisan immigration deal that was never approved.

Just to make his intentions clear, Trump suggested at the time that the United States instead bring more people from countries such as Norway. Ironically, in the case of Ukrainians, Trump appears to have gotten his wish.

What does that mean for New York and Nassau County?

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced two weeks ago that she would welcome refugees coming to New York.

“Just as the Statue of Liberty stands tall in our harbor, New York stands ready to welcome Ukrainian refugees. We remain engaged with the Biden administration and we will be prepared to accept and support those who seek shelter in our state,” Hochul said.

To be seen is how many refugees will come to New York state and where will they stay.

What about Nassau County?

How many refugees would Nassau County with a population of 1.6 million be willing to accept?

And if the county was willing to accept Ukrainian refugees, where would they be housed?

Warsaw with a population of 1.7 million before the Ukraine invasion – about the same as Nassau County – has accepted at an enormous cost more than 350,000 refugees.

Refugees in Warsaw have been housed everywhere from shelters set up in arenas to the homes of Warsaw residents, who like many Europeans have memories of World War II and have accepted the refugees with open arms.

There is zero chance that a similar number of Ukrainians would seek refuge in Nassau County or even the United States as they have in Poland due to its close proximity to Ukraine and the strong cultural connections between the two countries.

But drawn by family connections and dreams of a better life, the number who might want to settle in Nassau is certainly more than zero.

So what would Nassau County do?

Would it open temporary shelters to handle a sudden influx of refugees if the number was in the thousands? Would local homeowners welcome the Ukrainians into their homes at least temporarily?

This is a real question given the New York metropolitan area’s estimated need for an additional 700,000 affordable housing units just for the people already living here.

Hochul recently proposed legislation to require municipalities to allow a minimum of one accessory dwelling unit on all owner-occupied residential zoned lots.

But in Nassau County, which has among the highest percentages of single-family zoning in the country, the reaction of local officials was overwhelmingly negative and Hochul, who is running for re-election, pulled the proposal.

Developers and planners have also repeatedly called for changes to zoning laws that would permit transit-oriented, mixed-used developments with retail on the ground floor and apartments, affordable and otherwise, above them.

The mixed-use developments would allow older homeowners to downsize and younger people frozen out by the high cost of housing in Nassau to find places they can afford here.

But North Hempstead town and village officials have in most cases rejected their pleas, instead calling for case-by-case reviews that increase costs and uncertainty for projects.

North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena was the latest in a long line of officials to offer little encouragement to rezoning business districts to permit mixed-used developments at a recent town hall with Blank Slate Media.

Many developers have opted to develop properties elsewhere.

So would Nassau officials be willing to revisit their opposition to zoning changes to aid Ukrainian refugees fleeing a country where Russia is targeting civilians, including the children and the elderly?

We applaud the efforts of Nassau officials and residents in organizing humanitarian efforts to send clothing, first-aid kits and even guns to Ukraine.

But that’s not enough. We need to figure out if we can bring people here.

This might also be a good time for Biden and Congress to welcome the tens of thousands of Russians now fleeing their homeland because of their revulsion with Putin tactics and the economic hardship his actions are beginning to engender.

The United States should immediately take advantage of this brain drain to hurt Russia and help the United States by accepting them into this country.

And at a time that hundreds of thousands of jobs in the country go unfilled, Biden and Congress should find a way to accept more refugees fleeing despots in Central America,  Afghanistan and other places.

There is a practical reason for this.

Statistically, immigrants – legal and otherwise – are more entrepreneurial, less likely to have children out of wedlock and commit fewer crimes than native-born Americans.

They are also more likely to appreciate the freedom and opportunity in this country. It is hard to find someone more motivated than a person who was willing to give up everything to find opportunity in a new country.

A  2020 report, conducted by the research organization New American Economy, found that 45 percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children.

This includes Apple, founded by Steve Jobs, the son of a Syrian immigrant; Amazon, whose CEO Jeff Bezos is a second-generation Cuban immigrant; Google founder Sergey Brin, who was born in Russia; and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, a Brazilian native.

We would like to think that most Nassau County residents support Ronald Reagan’s vision of America. Now is the time to prove it.