Newspapers are reporting that the United States will take in ten thousand Syrian refugees in the next year.
President Barack Obama has directed his administration to prepare to take in at least 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year, the White House said on Thursday.
It is the first specific commitment the United States has made toward increasing its acceptance of refugees from the war-torn country.
U.S. to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees: White House, Reuters
The proposal follows calls from lawmakers and human-rights groups for Mr. Obama to expand the number of Syrian refugees accepted into the U.S. beyond the nearly 1,600 allowed into the country since 2011. The 10,000 would be in addition to those admitted already, administration officials said.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest cast the decision as a “significant ramping up” of the U.S. response to the crisis and said Mr. Obama personally directed his aides to “make preparations to accept at least 10,000 Syrian refugees” in the next fiscal year, which starts in October.
Obama Seeks Admission for 10,000 More Syrian Refugees, Wall Street Journal
The U.S. commitment is for the fiscal year that begins next month, officials said. During the current fiscal year, 1,600 Syria refugees have come to the United States.
That’s less than 10% of the total number of names submitted by the United Nations, but Obama administration officials say the screening process for admitting refugees is difficult and time-consuming.
U.S. to take in at least 10,000 Syrian refugees, White House says, Los Angeles Times
White House officials have had frequent meetings on the crisis, and the issue is likely to become central in the presidential campaign.
Hillary Rodham Clinton called for the United States to take in more refugees and provide more aid during a speech on Wednesday at the Brookings Institution; for Republican candidates the issue will become enmeshed in the debate over immigration.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has already referred 18,000 cases to the United States for resettlement. Many of them are the most vulnerable from Syria’s collapse: Torture survivors, people with special medical needs, and women who head households. More than half are children, officials say.
Obama Directs Administration to Accept 10,000 Syrian Refugees, New York Times
Under a referral program managed by the United Nations, 15,200 Syrian refugees currently await processing by the United States for resettlement, according to State Department figures. Security vetting and other processing for each refugee normally takes 18 to 24 months post-referral, the State Department has said, but aid groups have put the typical wait time at closer to about 33 months.
Challenged at a news conference on Thursday to explain whether the United States planned to accelerate its vetting process to admit 10,000 refugees in the next year, a State Department spokesman, John Kirby, said “there’s a significant national security concern that must be met”.
Obama calls on US to resettle 'at least 10,000' Syrian refugees in 2016 fiscal year, Guardian
Given the scale of the crisis — more than 4 million Syrians have fled their country, along with hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, Libyans, Somalis and others — the bumped-up quotas remain pitifully inadequate. The International Rescue Committee has called on the United States to take 65,000 Syrians by the end of this year.
U.S. response to the refugee crisis remains woefully inadequate, Washington Post