Objections from Indiana’s Mike Pence and other governors who don’t want Syrian refugees in their states have not slowed the resettlement program, a White House official said Thursday, the day after the administration announced it is sharply increasing how many refugees the United States will accept.
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The new goal is a 30 percent increase from this year’s directive of 85,000 refugees.
Secretary of State John Kerry told Congress on Tuesday that the administration was planning to bring 100,000 refugees into the country in 2017, but a senior administration official told CNN that the White House could bring in at least 110,000 if possible. In the 12 months ending September 30, the US goal was 85,000, and in the three years before that, the target was 70,000 per year.
Of these numbers, 40,000 will come from the Middle East and South Asia; 35,000 from Africa; 12,000 from East Asia; 4,000 from Europe; 5,000 from Latin America and the Caribbean; and 14,000 unallocated slots for refugees from any region. The official said increasing the US target this year reflected that strategy and Obama’s belief that all nations need to do more to help the neediest. Beginning Oct. 1, that number will expand to 110,000 refugees who can resettle in the U.S.
Obama wants to settle a total of 110,000 refugees in the US next year, a significant increase from 85,000 the previous year.
The administration said it would attempt to admit a “significantly higher” number of Syrian refugees in the next fiscal year, according to an 82-page report to Congress obtained by Politico.
Last year, Republican legislators attempted to block benefits for Syrian refugees, a measure that ultimately failed, and although the House passed tough new screening procedures aimed at stopping Syrian refugees from entering the USA, that, too, eventually failed in the Senate on a procedural motion.
“We have 20 million visa waiver visitors to the United States each year”, he said.
United States is planning to increase the number of refugees accepted into the country to at least 1,10,000 in 2017.
The announcement will be formally announced by President Obama at next week’s United Nations General Assembly meeting during a summit on refugees. Republican nominee Donald Trump wants to bar Syrian refugees completely, alleging that terrorists could be hiding among them.
It’s far more cost-effective and safer to establish safe zones in the Middle East for the predominately Muslim refugees, the statement read. “Today’s announcement is a step in the right direction, but falls short of an ambitious goal that is commensurate with the scale of the refugees crisis and the USA national security imperative to address it”.
The spokesperson reiterated that the refugees that are accepted will “undergo more rigorous screening and vetting than any other individual that enters the United States”.
“The head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, appointed by President Obama, told Congress that the Federal Bureau of Investigation can not vet the Syrian refugees who are coming to the United States to determine whether or not they are ISIS terrorists, whether or not they intend to wage jihad in an attempt to murder innocent Americans”, Cruz said.
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One Syrian family was diverted from IN to CT last fall, a decision the refugee settlement organization Exodus Refugee Immigration made after Pence objected.
