A poem on a plaque on a foreign statue, written 107 years after the formation of the United States is neither legally binding nor central to what the US is. And the poem doesn’t endorse visa scammers.
It's not legally binding, but it is central to what the US is and has been. That's why they put the poem there, and that's why Americans welcomed the gift and erected the statue, and that's why it has been considered to be one of our most cherished symbols ever since.
