About a dozen protestors in front of the White House on Wednesday called on President Barack Obama to do more for refugees fleeing the violence in Syria.
“America accepted Vietnamese refugees in the order of 350,000, almost one million Cubans … so to suggest that we’re only going to take 10,000 Syrians is really an injustice,” said Salam Al-Marayati, the Director of Muslim Public Affairs. “It is like telling them, ‘go back to your death chambers.'”
The protest comes after White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest announced that the United States would be preparing to accept at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in 2016. While the crisis has been ongoing for months, calls for Obama to act increased after photos emerged of a dead 3-year-old Syrian boy who drowned while fleeing the country.
Al-Marayati lead the event Wednesday which featured leaders of several activist groups in Washington, including Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and leaders from Human Rights Watch, Union for Reform Judaism, and Shoulder to Shoulder Interfaith Group.
During the demonstration, 14-year-old Wadad Elaly, who fled Lebanon for the United States eight months ago after her father was killed, spoke to the crowd. Now living in Chicago, Elaly said how happy she was at her new school.
“Thank you for helping me and my family,” Elaly said. “Please help the Syrian people. They need your help.”