US Secretary of State John Kerry announced Sunday the country will raise its cap of refugees and admit 100,000 in 2017, The New York Times reported, a significant rise of the initial 70,000.
Under the new plan, the US would take in 85,000 refugees next year and raise the cap to 100,000 the year after. The announcement follows Kerry's meeting with Syrian refugees and German officials, who spoke about the migrant crisis that is overwhelming the EU.
“This step is in keeping with America’s best tradition as a land of second chances and a beacon of hope,” Kerry said. “And it will be accompanied by continued financial contributions to the humanitarian effort — not only from the US government, but from the American people. The need is enormous, but we are determined to answer the call.”
Kerry said the refugees who are accepted would undergo extensive background checks to assure concerns among them would be extremists.
Thousands of refugees in the past few months have reached Europe and are currently stranded in no-man's land on borders. Germany, the EU country that has accepted the most asylum seekers by far, said it would accept at least 500,000 refugees this year.
Many of the refugees are Syrians escaping the conflict. The US has accepted 1,500 refugees since the Syrian conflict began four years ago, according to The New York Times.
