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U.S. to Increase Admission of Refugees to 100,000 in 2017, Kerry Says U.S. Will Accept More Refugees as Crisis Grows
(about 4 hours later)
BERLIN — The Obama administration will increase the number of refugees the United States is willing to accept in 2017 to 100,000, a significant increase over the current annual worldwide cap of 70,000, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday. BERLIN — The Obama administration will increase the number of worldwide refugees the United States accepts to 100,000 by 2017, a significant increase over the current annual cap of 70,000, Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday.
The announcement came as Mr. Kerry conferred here with German officials on the wave of migrants that has swamped Europe and met with Syrian refugees who are seeking asylum in Europe. “This step is in keeping with America’s best tradition as a land of second chances and a beacon of hope,” Mr. Kerry said, adding that it “will be accompanied by additional financial contributions” for the relief effort.
Under the new plan, the U.S. limit on annual refugee visas would be increased to 85,000 in 2016. The cap would then rise to 100,000 the following year. The American move, announced after talks in Berlin between Mr. Kerry and his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, still falls far short of the global demand for resettlement from people who continue to flee turmoil in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries. “This kind of piecemeal, incremental approach is simply not enough to effectively address this crisis,” said Eleanor Acer, director of the refugee protection program at Human Rights First, an advocacy group that has been pressing the United States to take 100,000 Syrians alone next year. “This minimal increase for next year is certainly not a strong response to the largest refugee crisis since World War II.”
The response still falls far short of the global demand for resettlement from those fleeing the Syrian war, turmoil in Iraq and Afghanistan and other conflicts. From Syria alone, 4 million people are in United Nations refugee camps outside the country, and hundreds of thousands of people from that region and Africa have been pouring into Europe. Four million Syrians have fled to other countries, and hundreds of thousands of others from the Middle East and Africa have been pouring into Europe. Mr. Kerry said the United States would explore ways to increase the overall limit of refugees beyond 100,000, while carrying out background checks to ensure that they are not infiltrated by terrorists.
The Obama administration has been under pressure to accept more Syrian refugees, and Mr. Kerry said that the United States would explore ways to increase the limit beyond 100,000, while carrying out background checks to ensure that the refugees have not been infiltrated by terrorists. “We still need to do more, and we understand that,” Mr. Kerry said in a joint news conference with Mr. Steinmeier.
“We still need to do more and we understand that,” Mr. Kerry said in a joint news conference with the German foreign minister, Frank Walter-Steinmeier. Under the new plan, the limit on annual refugee visas would be increased to 85,000 in 2016. The cap would then rise to 100,000 the following year.
“This step is in keeping with America’s best tradition as a land of second chances and a beacon of hope,” he said, and added that it “will be accompanied by additional financial contributions” for the relief effort. The United States has taken in only about 1,500 Syrian refugees since the start of the conflict there more than four years ago. American officials said that the Syrians accepted in the next year would come from a United Nations list of about 18,000. The three largest groups of refugees admitted last year were from Iraq, Somalia and Bhutan. Syrians were at the bottom of the list of nationalities. Refugees are people who have fled their homes to escape war or persecution (and can prove it), while migrants more generally may be relocating for economic reasons.
The response from the United States is unlikely to relieve much of the pressure on European nations, particularly Germany, which remains the most coveted destination for most of the arriving migrants. Other efforts to address the crisis, such as sharing distribution of the migrants among European Union members, have foundered so far, and in the absence of a unified and effective humanitarian and border security policy the migrants have been left to find their own way across the Continent. In their meeting, Mr. Kerry and Mr. Steinmeier also focused on ways to end the war in Syria, where 250,000 people have died and 12 million have fled their homes in the past four and a half years. In addition, Germany and the United States will try to rally support next week at the United Nations General Assembly for a significant increase in aid to United Nations refugee camps in countries neighboring Syria, Mr. Steinmeier said.
The United States has only taken in about 1,500 Syrian refugees since the start of the conflict more than four years ago, while Europe has been absorbing hundreds of thousands. The American response is unlikely to relieve much of the pressure on European countries, particularly Germany, which remains the most desirable destination for most of the migrants. Other efforts to address the crisis, such as agreeing to distribute migrants among European Union members, have foundered so far, and in the absence of a unified and effective policy, the migrants have been left to find their own way across the Continent.
The White House said earlier this month that it would take in at least 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year, and the administration’s decision to raise the ceiling for all refugees worldwide in 2016 will allow for that increase. Germany recently has been under pressure from a seemingly unstoppable influx of migrants, and it reinstated border checks a week ago to better manage the crowds. The flow from Austria slowed over the weekend to less than 2,000 registered arrivals each day, according to Lars Rebel, a spokesman for the German federal police.
Raising the worldwide ceiling to 100,000 in 2017, a senior State Department official, would enable a further increase in Syrian refugees accepted by the United States. But Austria received about 20,000 newcomers over the weekend on its eastern border with Hungary. Most “still want to go to Germany, their great goal, their great dream, their great vision,” said Alexander Marakovits, a spokesman for Austria’s Interior Ministry in Vienna.
“The idea is to have a steep ramp up,” said the official, who asked not to be identified under the agency’s protocol for briefing reporters. At least 10,000 passed through or arrived Sunday at the small Austrian village of Nickelsdorf, a city in the state of Burgenland near the border with Hungary that links Budapest to the east and Vienna to the west, Mr. Marakovits said.
American officials said that the Syrian refugees accepted by the United States over the next year would be drawn from a list of some 18,000 that the United Nations prepared before the current influx of migrants in Europe. The main highway linking the two cities was closed amid concerns that crowds of refugees would spill into traffic. Although everyone insisted the flow was manageable, the director of the state’s police, Hans Peter Doskozil, hinted at the strain.
But beside security and economic concerns, the Obama administration faces a difficult political climate in the midst of a presidential election in which many Republican voters appear to be seeking tougher immigration policies, not more welcoming. At the same time, efforts have ramped up to pressure the administration to do more. “In the worst case, if there is no shelter, then the buses can go on the highway and make a kind of sightseeing tour,” Mr. Doskozil told the Austria Press Agency, “as crazy as that sounds.
Earlier last week, more than 20 former senior officials, including some who served in the State Department and Pentagon during the Obama administration, urged the White House to accept 100,000 Syrian refugees. “But they must drive away, so that the others see something is happening,” he added. “Otherwise you can’t hold the crowd back anymore.”
“We urge that you announce support for a refugees admissions goal of 100,000 Syrian refugees on an extraordinary basis, over and above the current worldwide refugee ceiling of 70,000,” they wrote in a letter to President Obama and congressional leaders. “With some four million Syrian refugees in neighboring countries and hundreds of thousands of Syrian asylum seekers in Europe, this would be a responsible exercise in burden sharing.” Gerry Foitik, head of the Austrian Red Cross, said his volunteers would probably manage to accommodate most migrants somewhere in Austria on Sunday night. But he said about 5,000 might remain in and around Nickelsdorf.
That letter was signed by some prominent veterans of the Obama administration: Michèle A. Flournoy, a former under secretary of defense; Derek Chollet, who served as an assistant defense secretary; Harold H. Koh, who served as the State Department’s legal adviser; Eric P. Schwartz, who was a senior refugee official in the State Department and Robert S. Ford, whom Mr. Obama named to serve as ambassador to Syria. Mr. Kerry met with Mr. Steinmeier in Berlin at Villa Börsig, a palatial German guesthouse overlooking a lake. Later they met with a small group of Syrian refugees, who asked not to be identified out of concern for friends or relatives still living in Syria.
David Miliband, the former British foreign secretary who heads the International Rescue Committee, has called on the United States to resettle 65,000 Syrians by the end of 2016. The Syrians, asked by Mr. Kerry why the surge of migrants had been so great in recent weeks, said they had despaired of being able to return home and that life in refugee camps was becoming harder as food rations were cut back.
Mr. Kerry met with his German counterpart at Villa Börsig, a palatial German guesthouse overlooking a lake. Later, with reporters in attendance, they gathered with a small group of Syrian refugees, who asked not to be identified by name because they still have friends or relatives living in Syria. “The reason people are coming now is because they gave up hope completely,” one woman said.
Asked by Mr. Kerry why there have been such a large surge in migrants in recent weeks, the Syrians said they despaired of ever being able to come home and that life in refugee camps was becoming harder as food rations were cut back. One man asked: “Are not five years enough for the international community to intervene, especially the United States?”
“The reason people are coming now is because they gave up hope completely,” said one woman. “We have no hope we will ever live in Syria anymore.” Asked at his news conference why the United States could not accept more Syrians more quickly, Mr. Kerry said that budget constraints and vetting requirements established after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks limited the scope of the response.
“Are not five years enough for the international community to intervene, especially the United States?” said a man.
Asked at his news conference why the United States could not accept more Syrian refugees more quickly, Mr. Kerry said that budgetary constraints and vetting requirements established after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks limited the scope of the response.
“We are doing what we know we can manage immediately,” he said. But he did not rule out the possibility that more might eventually be done.“We are doing what we know we can manage immediately,” he said. But he did not rule out the possibility that more might eventually be done.
Mr. Obama has the authority to increase the refugee cap, but Congress will need to approve the additional funding. State Department officials have said that it cost $1.1 billion to accept and resettle 70,000 refugees in 2015. Along the migrant trail, those who had appeared boxed in on Friday — stranded in Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary — somehow managed to continue their trek. With help from the Serbian authorities, who made no secret of their policy of pushing them through as fast as possible, most of the migrants who had been thwarted at the Hungarian border made their way west into Croatia.
Mr. Kerry’s visit came as thousands more migrants were waiting at Germany’s doorstep in Austria to either enter Germany for settlement or pass through it to get to other prosperous countries in northern Europe. On Sunday, nearly 10,000 more asylum-seekers who had pushed through Hungary overnight and had been bused to camps near Austria’s eastern border were poised to move on to Germany. Many of the migrants have identified themselves as Syrians. From there, some continued toward Slovenia, where the authorities said around 2,500 had crossed the border by Sunday morning; the Croatians took a larger number to the Hungarian border in the northeast.
In recent weeks, so many migrants have passed into Germany that local officials are scrambling to find ways to receive and accommodate them. In Hungary, angry officials, who have been struggling to extend a razor-wire fence at the Serbian border to include the Croatian frontier, received the arrivals, packed them on trains and buses and moved them quickly to the Austrian line. The authorities there were allowing them to enter — 5,000 on Saturday alone.
The German government, which expects as many as a million migrants to arrive there this year, with many eligible for asylum, has been pressing for a European solution to the problem, including a plan to more fairly distribute the new arrivals among the European Union countries. Interior ministers plan to meet on Tuesday, and leaders on Wednesday, to try to break a logjam over the plan. The authorities in Slovenia, meanwhile, were halting migrants at its border with Croatia to the south and allowing them to pass in small groups, taken by bus from border crossings at Obrezje and Rigonce to several locations around the country.
State Department officials have previously said that not all of the additional refugees who would be taken in under a higher cap would be Syrians. Some will be Africans who have been threatened by human rights abuses, including some from the Democratic Republic of Congo. By Sunday morning, the crowds had diminished, with only about 300 people waiting at the huge Obrezje crossing, and only about half as many in Rigonce. Those who continued to straggle toward the border from deeper inside Croatia were simply allowed through by the Croatian authorities, leaving it up to the Slovenians to stop and process them.
Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain has pledged to take in up to 20,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years, but only those still living in that region. The Slovenians took the migrants, one busload at a time, to a processing center in Brezice, a few miles from the border. There, they were registered but not fingerprinted. Slovenia is a member of the European Union, as is Croatia, but unlike Croatia it also is part of the Schengen accord, which allows passport-free travel but encourages strong external borders.
Some leading lawmakers, including Senator Patrick K. Leahy of Vermont, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who is running for president, have urged the White House to take in significantly more Syrian refugees. But some Republican critics have asserted that accepting larger numbers of Syrians could pose security risks. Illustrating how hard it is to keep the refugees from their main goal — Germany — only seven migrants had requested asylum in Slovenia by Sunday. The rest were taken to six refugee centers around the country. From there, many simply decided to make their own way north toward the Austrian line, where a few hundred had crossed by Sunday morning.