“ISIS and other terrorist groups have made it abundantly clear that they will use the refugee crisis to try to enter the United States“, said Republican senator Chuck Grassley and Bob Goodlatte.
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The United States will give $419¬ million more in humanitarian aid to assist Syrian refugees and the countries that are hosting them, administration officials said Monday. This would take the total to 100,000 by 2017.
“I don’t see how we can lead the free world and turn our back when people are seeking [our help]”, Graham earlier this month during an event at the National Press Club.
“This step that I’m announcing today, I believe, is in keeping with the best tradition of America as a land of second chances and a beacon of hope”, he said.
He continued: “Scotland has a strong track record in welcoming those who have been forced to flee their homes due to war or persecution and we stand ready to help as many people as we can in the current crisis”.
He added, “And in the next fiscal year, we’ll target 100,000, and if it’s possible to do more, we’ll do”.
Much of the latest donation will go directly to groups working with refugees – the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees, the UN Children’s Fund, the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the worldwide Organization for Migration among them.
Syrians may be the principal beneficiaries of expanded refugee numbers to the U.S.
“In consultation with Congress, we will continue to explore ways to increase those figures while maintaining robust security”, Kerry told a news conference after meeting German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The Obama administration has already increased the number of Syrian refugees accepted into the USA from 1500 to 10,000. Germany expects to take in 1 million in the next year.
As many as two thousand Syrian refugees could eventually be resettled in Massachusetts in places like Norwood, which has an established Syrian-American community.
Kerry said the United States is only doing what it can manage immediately, and that it cannot take shortcuts on security checks.
In response to the global refugee crisis, Human Rights First calls on the US government to lead a comprehensive global initiative -in partnership with European and other states- to improve access to protection for refugees and asylum seekers.
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Contact with Russia’s military doesn’t impinge on the US position on Assad or the objective of eliminating Islamic State, or Daesh, but involves “de-conflicting,” Kerry said.
