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Photos: Rally outside White House supports Syrian refugees

By Kathy Stewart

WASHINGTON — Protesters at the White House on Saturday afternoon were chanting, “Refugees are welcomed here.”

Ahmad Asaad, a rally coordinator says they’ve been doing several events as a show of solidarity and to stand with the Syrian refugees.

“We’re actually showing, physically, that we are here for the refugees,” Asaad says.

On Friday, the group rallied outside the governor’s mansion and the State House, in protest of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s decision to ask federal authorities to stop placing Syrian refugees in Maryland. The Republican governor said in a statement that his decision was made after careful consideration, following Friday’s attacks in Paris, The Associated Press reports. Hogan’s decision is a sentiment shared by a large number of governors nationwide.

Mary Stata says the reason she was demonstrating at the White House along with husband and 2-month old daughter is because the refugees look a lot like her family.
“[It] put a very personal spin on this for us,” Stata says. “I think it’s really important to show the solidarity and to say the refugees are welcomed in our community because they are.”

Asaad said the group is also speaking out against the American Safe Act, a bill that passed the House and heads to the Senate. If the bill becomes law it would make the screenings much tougher for the refugees coming into the country.

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