President Barack Obama plans to increase the number of refugees accepted into the United States next year to at least 110,000, an increase of some 30% from the number resettled in 2016.
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Secretary of State John Kerry presented the new target of 110,000 in the 2017 fiscal year starting October 1, up from 85,000 in 2016, during a closed session to members of the House and Senate judiciary committees on Tuesday, according to the newspaper.
Jeff Sessions harshly criticized the outgoing Obama administration’s to dump an additional 25,000 refugees onto American streets in the fiscal year of 2017, calling the plan a “complete betrayal” and the increase “reckless”.
President Obama’s plan to increase the number of refugees allowed into the US won’t be sidetracked by governors who oppose resettling the refugees in their states, a White House official said Thursday.
A State Department official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said no specific goal has been set for the number of Syrian refugees who will be admitted.
Obama himself has been a staunch advocate for admitting refugees, condemning in no uncertain terms those he believes discriminate based on religion.
The U.S. has admitted 77,388 refugees as of September 13., according to the State Department.
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. The organization notes, however, that the increase will not be enough to address the scope of the current refugee crisis, and that Congress and the administration should work together to properly fund the USA resettlement program.
The polls are unsurprising when you consider 72% of voters feel that giving thousands of Syrian refugees asylum poses a national security risk to America.
The announcement will be formally announced by President Obama at next week’s United Nations General Assembly meeting during a summit on refugees.
Last year, Republican legislators attempted to block benefits for Syrian refugees, a measure that ultimately failed, and although the House passed tough new screening procedures aimed at stopping Syrian refugees from entering the USA, that, too, eventually failed in the Senate on a procedural motion. Last year, with Syrian refugees flooding into Europe, the White House increased the number of refugees it would admit from the war-torn country.
Refugees are a highly divisive topic in this year’s election cycle, with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump saying that refugees from “terrorist nations” should be barred entry to the United States.
Before Obama’s new proposed goal can be met, a new president will be in office. They worry Islamic State militants or sympathizers will infiltrate the refugee ranks.
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Kansas and New Jersey have taken the broader approach of completely opting out of the resettlement program. Nearly the entirety of the refugees arriving in the USA from the UNHCR are women and children, of which half are under 18 years old.
