ATLANTA (AP) -- Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said the city should be a safe place for unaccompanied children who cross the U.S. border.<br />
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In a Tuesday news conference at City Hall, Reed said welcoming the children is the moral and right thing to do.<br />
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He said metro Atlanta and Georgia have growing immigrant populations and that it's important to send a signal that Atlanta will be a welcoming community.<br />
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Earlier this month, Gov. Nathan Deal said in a letter to President Barack Obama that he was shocked to learn from federal officials that the Office of Refugee Resettlement had sent 1,154 unaccompanied children to Georgia between Jan. 1 and the end of June.<br />
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Reed said he hadn't read the governor's letter, but said "we're just on a different place on this."