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At inaugural week Refugee Ball, they won't be toasting Trump

Immigrant food vendors, a Tibetan guitarist, a gay Egyptian who won asylum in the U.S. based on his sexual orientation and LGBT activism, lawyers dispensing advice on refugee rights - not the guests you'd expect at a Washington celebration preceding the inauguration of Donald Trump.

Immigrant food vendors, a Tibetan guitarist, a gay Egyptian who won asylum in the U.S. based on his sexual orientation and LGBT activism, lawyers dispensing advice on refugee rights - not the guests you'd expect at a Washington celebration preceding the inauguration of Donald Trump.

On Tuesday, they and about 300 other advocates for asylum seekers will gather at the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue for "Refugee Ball, An Alternative Inaugural Ball." Its purpose is to fete those who help resettle refugees and people fleeing persecution, at a time when some policies that have protected them appear headed for the soon-to-be president's chopping block.

The occasion, free of admission and funded by donors, is intended to neither "celebrate the new president, nor denigrate him," said Jason Dzubow, a Washington lawyer and expert on asylum, who conceived the Refugee Ball.

Rather, it will "celebrate the core humanitarian values that underpin our refugee and asylum programs" - compassion, generosity, friendship, and inclusiveness, said Dzubow, a native of Norristown and graduate of Temple University.

Based on comments that candidate Trump made about the "Trojan horse" threat of refugees from countries in chaos, he could order the attorney general to halt some or all admissions, mostly from Muslim countries, advocates say.

"There are people waiting to come in," said Dzubow, "and Trump could stop that. There are Syrians. Their houses are gone. Their jobs are gone. Some have family members who are dead. How can we turn them away? 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.' That's a component here."

One scheduled speaker at the Refugee Ball - for which there is a sizable waiting list - is Paul W. Schmidt, a retired immigration judge and former chairman of the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Contending that refugees are carefully vetted, Schmidt said, "It is critical right now," with the half-million-case backlog in U.S. immigration courts, not to "cut corners" and "give in to the stereotype that people from some countries are less worthy than others."

He added: "We've heard a lot about terrorists, but that isn't what the refugee program is all about. Most of the people had very good lives abroad, but were driven out of their home countries."

One such is Ali Tehrani, 32, born in Iran, living now in Washington, who said he is looking forward to the Refugee Ball. A journalist and political activist in his homeland, Tehrani said he ran afoul of Iran's government when he held workshops on civil resistance after the 2009 presidential election that brought Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power a second time.

Tehrani managed to get to Sweden, and then on to the U.S. to attend a Tufts University conference on civil resistance. Human Rights Watch put him in touch with Dzubow, who helped him win asylum in 2013.

"Since I was a kid, I was obsessed with the U.S., as a country, a culture . . . everything," said Tehrani.

What he admired most, he said, is "America's openness to the Other, with a capital O."

In Dzubow's blog, www.asylumist.com, he recently wrote:

"When we give asylum to interpreters who served with our soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan, we demonstrate our loyalty to those who work with us. When we give asylum to women's rights advocates, we show our support for the cause of gender equality. When we support journalists, we show that we stand for free speech. When we grant asylum to religious minorities, we reinforce our founding principle of religious freedom."

Those are the ideals that will be celebrated at the Refugee Ball, he said, validating democratic processes, and not just one man's or one party's rise to power.

mmatza@phillynews.com

215-854-2541

@MichaelMatza1