Teacher of the year Mandy Manning poses for a photograph at the Washington Court Hotel, Wednesday, April 18, 2018, in Washington.  The national award winner embarks on a yearlong advocacy role to represent the best of the profession. Manning says she will use her new platform to encourage educators across the country to get out of their comfort zones in order to best serve the diversity of their students.  (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump will welcome to the White House a teacher honored for her work with refugees.

Trump will be speaking at the National Teacher of the Year reception at the White House later Wednesday.

2018 National Teacher Mandy Manning teaches at Newcomer Center at Joel E. Ferris High School in Spokane, Washington, where she leads a classroom for teenage refugees.

The center specializes in English language development for newly arrived refugee and immigrant students and serves as their entry into American high school culture.

Trump has taken a hard-line approach to both legal and illegal immigration and for a period suspended the U.S. refugee program.

During his campaign he compared refugees fleeing war-torn Syria to a Trojan Horse carrying would-be terrorists and proposed banning Muslims from entering the country.

Copyright © 2018 The Washington Times, LLC. ...

The Washington Times Comment Policy

The Washington Times is switching its third-party commenting system from Disqus to Spot.IM. You will need to either create an account with Spot.im or if you wish to use your Disqus account look under the Conversation for the link "Have a Disqus Account?". Please read our Comment Policy[1] before commenting.References^ Comment Policy (www.washingtontimes.com)

Read more from our friends at the Washington Times