An article published today on PRI quotes Betsy Fisher, IRAP’s Policy Director, on the United States’ efforts to meet its goal of resettling 10,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the fiscal year. The White House today released updated figures on the number of Syrians it has resettled so far. With only 1,285 Syrians resettled six months into the year, the United States is well behind its goal.
“The increase this month is a move in the right direction, but having met 13 percent of our goal, we are concerned that it will be very challenging to meet the 10,000 goal,” said Fisher.
Fisher spoke to security concerns that have been raised with regard to the resettlement process. “It’s not like these people are coming straight from Syria. They are coming from places like Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, where we actually have the ability to do refugee vetting, and where we have very good intelligence sharing. They are there for two, three, four years, and we know exactly who they are and what they are doing.”
You can read the full article here. You can also check out further coverage of the issue and additional commentary from Fisher in this BuzzFeed News piece.
IRAP is currently pushing its networks to show their support for America’s goal to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees by tweeting with the hashtag #Welcome10K. Join the conversation on Twitter!
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