White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest revealed Thursday that President Obama has directed his administration to prepare to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees in 2016.
"The president has directed his team to consider how we can further scale up our response and one thing that the United States can do is to begin to admit more Syrian refugees into the United States," Earnest told reporters, according to ABC News. "The president has directed his team to scale up that number next year and he's informed his team that he would like them to accept, at least make preparations to accept at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next fiscal year."
In addition, the U.S. will take in about 1,500 Syrian refugees by the end of this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
Secretary of State John Kerry said earlier at a closed door meeting on Capitol Hill that the total number of refugees taken in by the U.S. could rise to more than 100,000, from the previous cap of 70,000, reported The New York Times. Officials note that most, but not all, of the additional 30,000 refugees would be Syrian.
House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul expressed concerns about the plan, citing national security, according to Townhall.
"We're a compassionate nation and this is a tragic situation but I also have to be concerned as Chairman of Homeland Security about the safety of Americans in this country and the concern that I have and that the FBI testified to is that we don't really have the proper databases on these individuals to vet them passed and to assure we're not allowing terrorists to come into this country and until I have that assurance, I cannot support a program that could potentially bring jihadists into the United States," McCaul said. "We don't know who these people are and I think that's the bottom line here and until we know who they are, we cannot responsibly bring them into the United States."
He also alleged that both the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI share his concerns as well.
Addressing that concern, the White House noted that the refugees would go through the "most robust security security process" and Obama's intent is not to "cut corners on security protocols."
White House officials have had frequent meetings on the crisis, and the issue is likely to become central in the presidential campaign.
