Airport Crowd Welcomes Afghan Refugee Family To Atlanta
Miranda Hawkins / WABE
The first refugee family to arrive in Atlanta since President Donald Trump signed his executive order on immigration landed at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport late Monday night.
The Afghan family of four, including a 5-year-old girl and 3-year-old boy, were welcomed by family members, a group of almost 40 people and the International Rescue Committee, a refugee resettlement organization.
“Some people were saying, ‘You guys will get stuck in Germany.’ Some people were saying, ‘They will not let you guys from Dubai,’ you know,” said Wali Omeri, the father of the family. “I hear a lot of things from everybody but I use my own common sense … I will get there.”
Don Freeman and his 12-year-old son Walker held neon green signs to greet the Omeri family.
“We’re kind of here to support the refugees,” Freeman said. “And kind of protest the [Trump] administration’s latest move. And express what we feel about America is not what the administration is doing right now.”
IRC officials said they were also expecting to welcome a 57-year-old woman and her 31-year-old niece from Somalia, one of the seven countries banned from immigration into the states in Trump’s executive order. J.D. McCrary, executive director of the IRC in Atlanta, said they learned Monday of the family would not be arriving.
McCrary said the IRC knows the two women never made it to their flight in Europe. But as of Monday night, the IRC is unaware of their whereabouts or their status.
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