President Obama reached his goal of letting 10,000 Syrian refugees into the country this year so fast that there is time for an additional 2,000 to enter before the end of the fiscal year, an exclamation point on his controversial policy.
And, according to a new report, with Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton open to international calls for a huge increase in refugees the U.S. should welcome, the number is expected to rise to 65,000 Syrians next year, a 550 percent increase over 2016. That equals the size of Youngstown, Ohio.
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The Center for Immigration Studies crunched the numbers and reported it this way:
President Obama has himself shown a deep commitment to helping Syrian refugees and, as the host of the September 20 [refugee] summit, intends to “galvanize significant new global commitments to…admit more refugees through resettlement and other legal pathways”.
We know that, of the 85,000 refugees planned for in the current fiscal year, 10,000 are Syrians and the other 75,000 of different nationalities. If we consider 75,000 as a fixed base for non-Syrian refugee admissions in FY 2017, and subtract it from the widely discussed 140,000 target, we reach a total of 65,000 Syrian refugees possibly slated for resettlement here.
That would be a likely outcome if Clinton wins, said the Center’s analyst Nayla Rush, citing the candidate’s support for increasing refugee numbers.
Under Republican Donald Trump, however, the program would likely end because he has expressed skepticism that the United Nations is doing an adequate job of vetting the refugees on security issues, and weeding out potential terrorists.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
