When Donald Trump offered a "temporary" plan to block Muslims from entering the United States in response to jihadist terrorism, some supporters cheered while other Americans decried the call as "xenophobic," saying Muslims are an important part of the national fabric.
Among all immigrants granted permanent residency status, or green cards, the share of Muslims increased from about 5 percent in 1992 to roughly 10 percent in 2012, representing about 100,000 immigrants in that year, according to Pew.
To put that in perspective, in 2013, there were 11,208 firearm homicides and 33,804 motor vehicle traffic deaths, according to federal figures.
[...] in dental school at the University of North Carolina, Deah, with his new wife, Yusor, had started a crowd-funding effort to provide medical treatment to refugees in Turkey from the Barakats' Syrian homeland.
In a sense, this is all God's plan, for him to choose these three amazing people.
Abe Mashhour likes recruiting top prospects for his top-ranked Michigan community college basketball team.
The 43-year-old coach at Schoolcraft College in the Detroit suburb of Livonia said other coaches and counselors regularly call him to refer struggling students.
Mashhour came to the U.S. from Lebanon at age 4, the youngest child of nine in his family, to escape that nation's civil war.
"Some of the other guys, where were they going to get their next meal from without doing something illegal?" asked Mashhour, whose current squad was ranked No. 1 in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II preseason poll.
Lawyer Sally Baraka can still remember her father taking her along as a little girl when he went to his Cherry Hill, N.J., voting precinct to cast his ballot in every election.
After completing her undergraduate and law school degrees at Temple University in Philadelphia, she remained in the city and is a patent attorney working with startups at a software company.
To repay the kindness, the Obeidis and others in the Muslim community help recent immigrants to Anchorage, whether they need a job, schooling or just adjusting to the ways of their new home.
Often, they work with Catholic Social Services in getting people settled.
Anchorage is a diverse city, where about 100 different languages are spoken in the public school system.
The Obeidi men have hosted prayer meetings in their homes, and later a larger space at a strip mall.
The group's social message, centered on strengthening the African-American community, social reform and justice, resonated with him.
In the early 1980s, he started a neighborhood watch group, then a civic association.
Mohamed Kelli still marvels at the outpouring of support his family received, particularly from volunteers from All Saints' Episcopal Church in Atlanta who dropped by the newcomers' apartment every week to tutor them in English.
[...] the 32-year-old physician, recently awarded a four-year fellowship in cardiology at Atlanta's Emory University, is working to give back to his adopted home.
Most Sundays he works with other Emory doctors at the Clarkston Health Clinic, which provides free medical services to low-income patients just a block from the small apartment Mohamed Kelli shared with his parents and younger brother 14 years ago.
Mohamed Kelli wants to develop a smartphone app that lets users enter basic health information — such as blood pressure and weight — and prompts them to make improvements by exercising more or changing their diets.
