Local Syrian Refugees Thankful To Have Made It To America
POMONA (CBSLA.com) — Syrian refugees in the Southland are expressing their gratitude Wednesday to have made it to America.
As CBS2's Crystal Cruz reports, it's been three months since sisters Mace and Elma, along with their parents fled Syria for a better life in Pomona.
"Proudly to announce that he is a taxpayer, paying taxes from his construction job," Mostaffa Kanjou said through an interpreter.
Fouad Wawieh and his family, also Syrian refugees, are new to the United States and met with Congresswoman Norma Torres (D-Pomona) at the Islamic Center of Claremont.
"They are not the boogeyman that they have been made out to be," Torres said.
Torres described the screening process as thorough, taking up to 24 months.
Many have questioned why the U.S. is taking in refugees when the country has a homeless problem.
"That has been the lack of affordable housing that has been built, the lack of jobs," Torres said. "We are beginning to recover from a great recession, but that doesn't mean that we abandon our responsibility to the rest of the world."
The two families represent the first two the Islamic Center of Claremont has welcomed. By the start of next year, they plan on welcoming two more families.