The U.S. will take in “at least 10,000” refugees from Syria in fiscal 2016, which starts Oct. 1, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Thursday.
Administration officials on Wednesday said that since the start of the Syrian civil war, the U.S. has taken in about 1,500 people fleeing the conflict.
When counting the total number of refugees — not just Syrians — from around the world coming to the U.S., the country was on track to accept a total of 70,000 this fiscal year, Earnest said. Now the administration is looking to bump that up to closer to 75,000, he said.
“[W]e have indicated that we’re looking to increase the number beyond 70,000,” by the end of this fiscal year on Sept. 30, Earnest said.
Secretary of State John Kerry, in briefing lawmakers behind closed doors, indicated on Wednesday “that the State Department has been contemplating for some time, even before this latest crisis emerged, raising the caps on the number of refugees that are accepted into this country,” Earnest said. “And so, that overall number is something that the State Department is continuing to work on.”
Earnest could not say whether allowing more Syrian refugees into the country would displace would-be immigrants from other parts of the world.
“It’s unclear at this point exactly what impact this will have on the specific caps,” Earnest said.
The U.S. participates in a United Nations-run program to help resettle refugees from around the world. Through that program, America accepts more people fleeing conflict than any other country, Earnest said.
The United States “actually takes in more refugees to be resettled inside the United States than every other country in the world combined,” he said. “So again, the U.S. track record when it comes to try to meet the humanitarian needs to displaced peoples is quite strong. But in the face of this significant crisis, the president is pushing his national security team to scale it up even further.”
