President Obama plans to boost the number of refugees admitted into the U.S. by 30 percent during the 2017 fiscal year, The Wall Street Journal reported.
There’s been a steady increase in the refugee cap over the last couple of years. Roughly 70,000 were admitted in 2015, and 85,000 were admitted in the 2016 fiscal year. Beginning Oct. 1, that number will expand to 110,000 refugees who can resettle in the U.S.
An estimated 40,000 refugees will come from parts of the Middle East and southwest Asia, and a portion of them will come from Syria.
Millions of Syrians have been displaced by the country’s civil war and ISIS’ campaign in the Middle Eastern nation.
The Obama administration met its goal of admitting 10,000 Syrian refugees by the end of last month. In some ways, it was a difficult mark to reach.
Last November, 30 governors publicly asked Obama to stop admitting Syrians until security concerns could be addressed, fearing that terrorists could sneak into the country as refugees.
Obama faced criticism in May from refugee advocates when the U.S. had taken in fewer than one-third of its goal for resettling displaced Syrians.
Before Obama’s new proposed goal can be met, a new president will be in office. The two leading candidates have vastly different opinions on the matter.
Hillary Clinton has called for 65,000 Syrians to be admitted. Donald Trump has largely been against admitting Syrian refugees, at times calling them a “Trojan horse” for terrorists to enter the U.S.
