Less than a year ago, in response to a global refugee crisis involving millions of Syrians fleeing violence and conflict, President Obama has asked his administration to increase the number of Syrian refugees who could be offered a safe haven in the United States, said in a statement Susan Rice, security adviser of the U.S. president. A month later, after the ISIS attacks in Paris, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said allowing Syrian refugees into the country could be a “Trojan horse” that would grant terrorists entry to the U.S. Last December, Trump called for a blanket ban on Muslims entering the U.S.
Advertisement
U.S. Ambassador to Jordan Alice Wells, top left, poses for a photo with Syrian refugee Ahmad al-Abboud and his family at in Amman, Jordan before being resettled in the US.
Refugees are the most thoroughly screened category of travelers to the United States, and Syrian refugees are subject to even greater scrutiny.
Alice Wells, the US ambassador to Jordan, told the Associated Press on Sunday “the immediate goal of resettling 10,000 Syrian refugees did not come at the cost of our comprehensive, robust security measures”. The goal for next year, he said, would be “a few thousand over 10,000”. In the 2015 fiscal year, the US admitted 70,000 refugees.
All refugees must undergo extensive background checks by the departments of State and Homeland Security and several USA intelligence agencies, and Syrian refugees receive additional vetting. More than half of the country’s governors, including Maryland’s Larry Hogan, announced they wanted the federal government to stop resettling Syrian refugees in their states.
More than five years of fighting in Syria has led to a massive flow of refugees out of the country, with most of the almost 5 million people going to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.
Other European countries have instead attempted to shut out refugees and migrants. Monday’s announcement means the White House attained its goal a month ahead of schedule, an achievement due at least in large part to a surge of State Department and Homeland Security officials deployed to the Middle East to help process a backlog of applications.
On Aug. 29, several hundred Syrian refugees boarded passenger jets headed for places like bustling New York City, sun-drenched California and small-town Maine.
The deal also provides for one Syrian refugee from Turkey to be relocated to European Union countries for each Syrian who arrives illegally in Greece and is sent back. In Lebanon, more than 1 in 5 people are now Syrians.
Advertisement
European nations continue to disagree about whether, and how, to share the newcomers between them.
