At the same time, the 110,000 figure, which covers the fiscal year beginning October 1, is likely to disappoint many supporters of the refugee program, who have been urging the administration to take in as many as 200,000 displaced people from around the world.
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The increase reflects continuing concern about the refugee crisis stemming from Syria’s civil war and conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. 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.
Following the November 2015 terror attacks in Paris which killed 130 people, almost half of the 50 USA states moved to shut the door on Syrian refugees as Republican lawmakers urged a halt to the resettlement program, citing security fears.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has made the pace of refugees a major campaign issue, and has vowed to halt admissions from countries that have a connection to terrorism.
Every year, the president sets a target of how many refugees the US should accept.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said Obama’s ability to unilaterally increase the number of refugees is a reminder why the country’s refugee laws need to be updated.
“I got shocked because, from my understanding, the United States is really generous in having new people”, she said.
The number of refugees admitted into the US will increase to 110,000 in the upcoming fiscal year, according to an annual refugee report to Congress cited Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal.
“Terrorists have announced that they will infiltrate the refugee population and have successfully done so multiple times in Europe over the previous year”, Session added. The organization has resettled 70 Syrian refugees so far this year.
At home, however, his refugee target is likely to renew controversy over the ability of the U.S.to absorb newcomers, particularly from countries where vetting is not easy and where terrorist networks have said they want to insert operatives into the refugee stream.
But with Obama’s time in office quickly coming to a close and the future of the White House hanging in the balance, Republicans in Congress are divided over what the U.S.’s commitment to resettling refugees should be with the next administration. The Syrians were nearly all Sunni Muslims, according to federal Refugee Processing Center statistics. A lot of them ended up in refugee camps in Thailand and have been resettled in countries around the world, including the U.S. The Obama administration has argued that Syrian refugees undergo extensive background checks, a process that can last up to two years, as USA and United Nations officials verify asylum seekers’ stories and check possible ties to terrorist organizations. Obama said Wednesday that the U.S.is prepared to lift sanctions “soon” to help boost investment in the country of 53 million people.
The Syrians – who fled a brutal five-year civil war that the United Nations says has claimed 400,000 lives – arrived amid controversy over their presence in the U.S.
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It is very possible- given what Trump has said about refugees from war torn nations- that America’s policy toward refugee resettlement will be dramatically reoriented under Trump’s vision if he’s elected. “Those are spots that can’t go to Syrians or Iraqis”.
