President Obama directs administration to accept at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next fiscal year

By Juliet Eilperin and Carol Morello 

President Obama has directed the U.S. government to accept at least 10,000 refugees from Syria in the next fiscal year, White House press secretary Josh Earnest announced Thursday, a six-fold increase over the number admitted this year to the United States.

The new figure, which Earnest described as an “ambitious goal,” reflected the growing pressure the administration faces to develop a more robust response to the spiraling humanitarian crisis that has grown out of armed conflict in Syria as well as neighboring countries. Earnest also urged other nations in Europe and the Mideast—including some that don’t typically welcome asylum seekers—to “ramp up” their willingness to take in Syrian refugees.

The administration’s response comes as a top European Union official earlier this week proposed spreading about 160,000 refugees across nearly two dozen countries.

So far, the United States has lagged far behind several European countries in its refu­gee aid efforts, largely due to the time-consuming screening procedure to block Islamist militants and criminals from entering the United States under the guise of being legitimate refugees.

Almost 1,600 Syrian refugees have arrived in the United States since the civil war began, according to State Department figures. Many of the Syrians so far have ended up moving to Michigan and California, where there are sizeable Arabic-speaking communities and where they often have family living already, said Kevin Appleby, director of migration policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which helps resettle a quarter of all refugees to this country.

When asylum seekers accepted for resettlement first arrive in the United States, most go to orientation programs run by a coalition of faith-based and refugee non-profit groups. These groups receive federal funds to help welcome the arriving refugees, determine the best place in the country for them to relocate, find housing, learn some English and start looking for jobs.

As refugees, they are eligible for Medicaid and become permanent residents authorized to work in the country. After a year, they are eligible for a green card, and five years after that, they can become U.S. citizens.