(Newswire.net — September 11, 2015) — Washington, DC. – In the next fiscal year that starts in October, the US will accept 10,000 Syrian refugees, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told the media.
The US has been heavily criticized by the EU that they do little or nothing to help ease the pressure to its NATO allies from Europe. The US has accepted fewer than 1,500 refugees from Syria so far while Germany alone looks at some 800,000 souls that need to be taken care of.
While the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recommended the US take at least 17,000 Syrian refugees, the White House announced it will take no more than 10,000.
“The administration is actively considering a range of approaches to be more responsive to the global refugee crisis, including more regard to refugee resettlement,” Peter Boogaard, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said Monday.
In 2014, the US accepted only 132 Syrian refugees, the Russia Today reported, adding that Officials in Washington have previously said that the US would accept between 5,000 and 8,000 Syrian refugees.
The proposed resettling of at least 10,000 Syrian refugees does not apply to the US quota of 75,000 refugee admissions, the CNN quoted a senior administration official.
“The thinking all along this year was we could move to increase it, some sort of a modest increase,” the official said. “Given what’s going on in the world today, I know that there’s a lot of people outside the administration, and inside the administration, too, in very senior positions, who would like to increase it significantly.”
Meanwhile, the EU is flooded with almost a million refugees that have crossed the Mediterranean Sea in overcrowded boats. Thousands drowned during the attempt, the UN reported. Those who reach land in Greece or Italy, awaits hard trip across Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary towards Austria and Germany, which is the final destination of the most of the Syrian refugees. Some continue on to France and the UK, but Scandinavian countries are the least popular destination, though they are vastly unpopulated and among the richest in the EU.
While experts warn that the demonstrations to drive Islam out of Germany is spreading and gaining momentum, the Saudi Arabia hypocrisy on issue adds oil to the fire. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which quoted a report in the Lebanese newspaper Al Diyar, said that Saudi Arabia would build one mosque for every 100 refugees who entered Germany in extraordinary numbers last weekend.
The more general concern is about demographic change.
Not only in EU countries, but also all over the Europe, exists a more general concern about demographic change, leaving some states opposed to the idea of welcoming refugees.