Live
- BJP Leaders Meet TPP Chairman to Address Irregularities in TIDCO Housing Scheme
- Telangana Sets Record in Rice Yield with 15.3 Million Metric Tons
- Spirituality in the leadership
- Actor Kasthuri Shankar Arrested in Hyderabad Over Controversial Remarks
- Tragic Accident in Anantapur: Bride-to-Be Dies in Bike-Tractor Collision
- Are we on the edge of no return?
- Telangana Appoints Dr. Gummadi V. Vennela as Chairperson of TCAB
- Teaser for ‘Sarangapani Jathakam’ Set to Release on November 21st
- Manage C&D waste better to fight air pollution: CSE
- Grassroots democracy, an idea whose time has come
US to accept 85,000 refugees in 2016, 100,000 in 2017: John Kerry
Highlights
Scrambling to address a growing Syrian refugee crisis, US Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Sunday that the United States would significantly increase the number of worldwide migrants it takes in over the next two years, though not by nearly the amount many activists and former officials have urged.
Scrambling to address a growing Syrian refugee crisis, US Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Sunday that the United States would significantly increase the number of worldwide migrants it takes in over the next two years, though not by nearly the amount many activists and former officials have urged.
The US will accept 85,000 refugees from around the world next year, up from 70,000, and that total would rise to 100,000 in 2017, Kerry said at news conference with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier after they discussed the mass migration of Syrians fleeing their civil war.
Many, though not all, of the additional refugees would be Syrian, American officials have said. Others would come from strife-torn areas of Africa. The White House had previously announced it intended to take in 10,000 additional Syrian refugees over the next year.
Asked why the US couldn't take more, Kerry cited post-Sept. 11 screening requirements and a lack of money made available by Congress.
"We're doing what we know we can manage immediately," he said, adding that the US cannot take shortcuts on security checks. US lawmakers immediately expressed concerns about the potential influx.
The Islamic State group and other terrorist organizations "have made it abundantly clear that they will use the refugee crisis to try to enter the United States. Now the Obama administration wants to bring in an additional 10,000 Syrians without a concrete and foolproof plan to ensure that terrorists won't be able to enter the country," said US Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and US Rep Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.
"The administration has essentially given the American people a 'trust me.' That isn't good enough," according to a statement from the lawmakers, who head the congressional judiciary committees.
Conditions in Syria have been growing increasingly dire as the civil war grinds on. As many as 9 million people have been displaced, including more than 4 million who have fled the country, according to the United Nations.
A letter made public last week and signed by several former Obama administration officials urged the US government to accept 100,000 Syrian migrants, and to put in place special rules to speed the resettlement process. Germany says it will accept as many as a million Syrians this year.
Next Story
ADVERTISEMENT
