The Obama administration had set the goal previous year as the refugee crisis in Europe had reached its peak and worldwide leaders called on the U.S. to do more to resettle refugees. More than 4.8 million Syrian refugees have been displaced since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
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Rice did not announce the name of the refugee or where in the USA that person will be resettled.
“We’d like to see these numbers increase really significantly”.
“We would like to see the USA demonstrate more leadership on this”, Smyers added, referencing the fact that the USA took in hundreds of thousand of Vietnamese refugees during and after their civil war.
This announcement comes just a few weeks before Obama convenes a summit on refugees at the 71 session of the United Nations General Assembly.
A milestone in the number of Syrian refugees now living in the U.S. After the medical and security screening, the homeland security officer could approve the refugee’s application to be resettled in the US.
A month ahead of schedule, the Obama administration has announced that it has met a goal set a year ago to welcome 10,000 Syrian refugees.
For some, 10,000 is too many.
Most Republican candidates, including Donald Trump who has since been invested by his party, had called for an end to the reception of Syrian refugees claiming that fighters of the Islamic State group might infiltrate the crowd.
The Syrian refugee program has been controversial, many Republican lawmakers warn extremists could use it to get into the country.
Between last October and the end of this September, the U.S.is expected to admit a total of at least 85,000 refugees, Rice said, including from countries like Burma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, Iraq, Somalia, Ukraine, among many others. Congress sought in January to pass a bill that would prevent any Syrians from coming into the country. “Is it any wonder that the citizens we represent are concerned?”
None of the terror attacks in the US have been perpetrated by Syrian refugees. Following the approval, officials match the refugee with a U.S. voluntary agency that will help them find a home and employment. The process typically takes 12 months to 18 months and includes in-person interviews and a review of biographical and biometric information.
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“Thousands of families from Syria have found safety on our shores, and that is a wonderful thing”. “But so many are still trapped in horrific conditions in refugee camps or war zones”.
