A 50 percent increase in refugees accepted to the United States will be among the government’s objectives for the upcoming fiscal year.
To lead world countries to be more complacent about accepting war immigrants, the U.S. will keep its policies of accepting refugees. Most of the refugees reaching the U.S. are victims of the Syrian civil war, and even though there are security concerns about the origin of each refugee, the FBI alongside other U.S. security agencies reportedly screen each candidate to rule out national security threats.
Providing asylum for war victims
Republicans, including Trump, have heavily criticized the Obama Administration for allowing so many refugees, arguing that they have contact with Islamic extremist groups such as ISIS.
Republicans tried to pass blockades to restrict benefits for Syrian refugees seeking asylum in the U.S., but they did not rally enough support. The immigrant crisis affects most of the world due to complex armed conflicts originating in the Middle East.
“Unfortunately, President Obama unilaterally increases the number of refugees resettled in the United States each year and gives little thought as to how it will impact local communities,” stated Republican House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte.
Currently, the states with the most refugees are California, Texas, and Florida, each of which houses one thousand. Refugees are often seen as an economy booster, as most try to work hard to sustain their families and improving their lives.
Most of the accepted refugees have been authorized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Each participant of the program is carefully selected from refugee camps. Almost the entirety of the refugees arriving in the U.S. from the UNHCR are women and children, of which half are under 18 years old.
Each of these refugees has had to be interviewed by the Department of Homeland Security, while also being subjected to health exams and inclusion in intelligence databases.
After the initial screening process, refugees undergo an integration course to learn about the U.S. culture and about how are they going to be received by locals.
At least 11 million people have fled Syria as the civil war marks its sixth year of social conflict. Last month, the Department of State announced that the U.S. had already accepted 10,000 Syrian refugees, reaching the imposed goal for the current fiscal year.
Secretary of State John Kerry announced on August upon welcoming the 10,000th refugee that the U.S. has hosted over 3.2 million refugees since 1975. The crisis has led over 1 million people to escape to Europe in 2015 alone.
It is estimated that out of the 110,000 refugees for 2017, 40,000 will come from the Middle East and South Asia, 35,000 from Africa, 12,000 from East Asia, 4,000 from Europe, and 5,000 from Latin America and the Caribbean.
Secretary of State John Kerry had already suggested that reaching 100,000 was not a ceiling, but rather a floor. Accepting incoming refugees appears to be one of the current administration main concerns.
Source: The Washington Post