US President Barack Obama has asked federal agencies to prepare to receive at least ten thousand Syrian refugees over a 12-month period from October
US President Barack Obama has asked federal agencies to prepare to receive at least ten thousand Syrian
refugees over a 12-month period from October first.
The figure is more than six times higher than the 1,500 Syrians who have been given the go-ahead to settle in the US in the four years since the civil war started.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest made the announcement:
“He (Barack Obama) has informed his team that he would like them to accept, at least make preparations to accept, at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next fiscal year. So, now we know the scale of this problem. It’s significant. And there are millions of people who have been driven from their homes because of this violence.”
It’s a relatively small number in comparison to the eight hundred thousand refugees Germany is expected to take in by the end of 2015.
US-led strikes on Syria
Meanwhile US-led airstrikes against the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Syria and Iraq are ongoing.
The UN estimates over 250,000 people have died since the Syrian civil war began.