“Now the Obama administration wants to bring in an additional 10,000 Syrians without a concrete and foolproof plan to ensure that terrorists won’t be able to enter the country“, said U.S. Sen.
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Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday that the United States will increase the number of refugees it accepts annually from around the world to 85,000 in 2016 and 100,000 in 2017. “I do believe that at least partially what is happening with the movement of the population towards Europe is because the global community didn’t take Syria’s situation seriously despite 250,000 people being killed and four million made into refugees …” “Many Americans are understandably concerned about the threat posed by inadequate security screening procedures”, Chairman Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, stated in a press release.
“The new money will pay for food, water, shelter and medical care for Syrians affected by the conflict, spokesman Josh Earnest said“. Germany expects to take in 1 million in the next year.
Speaking Sunday in Berlin, Kerry said the United States will significantly increase the numbers for refugee resettlement in the course of the next year, and the following year.
The global Organization for Migration says that almost 475,000 migrants have crossed by boat into Europe so far this year, and this is more than double the amount who arrived during the whole of 2014. France’s Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced Wednesday that his country will launch military strikes “in the coming weeks” for the first time in Syria.
Some Republicans have voiced opposition to the acceptance of Syrian refugees, pointing to a case of two Iraqi refugees in Kentucky who in 2011 were found guilty of terrorism after their fingerprints were tracked to roadside bombs in Iraq.
Asked at his news conference why the United States could not accept more Syrian refugees more quickly, Kerry said budgetary constraints and vetting requirements established after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks limited the scope of the response.
Aid agencies have slashed aid to refugees in the host countries after receiving less than 40 percent of the $7.4 billion they requested. Many of these refugees have been stranded for years in neighboring countries where they can not work or support their families, have little access to education, and lack the level of humanitarian assistance they need.
“When we see pictures of Syrians in Hungary and Germany, we are not resettling those”, she said.
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Refugees are subject to the highest level of security checks of any category of traveler to the United States.
