With conditions continuing to deteriorate in
Syria, the Obama administration is making a major policy shift by agreeing for
the first time to allow thousands of new Syrian refugees into the United
States, The Cable has
learned.
The numbers are relatively small:
just 2,000 refugees, compared to an estimated two million people who have fled
Syria during the civil war. But it's a significant increase from the 90 or so
Syrian refugees who have been permanently admitted to the U.S. in the last two
years. And it's not entirely uncontroversial. The refugees, mostly women and
children, will be screened for terrorist ties -- a process that could take a
year or more to complete.
Unlike previous efforts by
the Department of Homeland Security to give temporary protected status to Syrians
already in the United States, the State Department effort will bring in Syrians
from overseas for permanent resettlement in America.
"Referrals will come within the next four months. We will need to interview people and perform security and medical checks," Kelly Clements, the State Department's deputy assistant secretary for Population, Refugees, and Migration, tells The Cable.
