Syrian refugee Emad Hasso is sitting behind bars after allegedly groping a 13-year-old girl at a public swimming pool in Massachusetts last Thursday.
The 22-year-old refugee, who barely speaks English and has only been in the country for about two months, pleaded not guilty to indecent assault and battery directed at a person under 16-years-old, the Lowell Sun reports. He’s currently being held on a $25,000 bail.
Hasso apparently approached the 13-year-old girl at Raymond Lord Memorial Pool, touched her upper thigh and asked her old how she was.
She immediately responded that she was too young for him, but that didn’t deter Hasso from reportedly stalking her at the pool and again touching her thigh.
Prosecutor Sam Miller said the girl then directly and firmly told Hasso that she was just a “little kid, leave me alone.”
Her response caught the attention of the lifeguard and several other people at the pool, who then intervened.
Meanwhile, Hasso maintains that although he might have bumped into the girl accidentally, he certainly didn’t grope her, and moreover, he claims that he never even spoke to her.
Police say that the alleged groping may have been caught by security cameras at the pool.
The Obama administration’s fiscal 2016 year goal is to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees into the United States. Nearly 2,400 refugees arrived in June alone, even though half of all U.S. governors oppose the move. Maryland Republican Governor Larry Hogan doesn’t believe the federal government is doing enough to vet refugees carefully.
Republicans in Congress have joined these governors in skepticism of mass refugee settlement and are concerned that terrorists, like they have already done in Europe, might sneak into the country.
“No matter how many additional staff the Obama administration puts towards vetting, administration officials, including FBI Director [James B.] Comey, have stated that the U.S. government does not have the resources and dramatically lacks the necessary information to fully vet Syrian refugees,” GOP Rep. Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary, said in a statement.
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