More Syrian Refugees To US: Costs And Consequences

[jct74]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJUDSoSUstY

A major influx of Syrian refugees has begun to hit US shores. President Obama wants to radically increase the numbers coming in over the next year. Refugees must be calculated in as part of the costs of an interventionist foreign policy. But how high are these costs?

 

[Zippyjuan]

Wow! Just over 1,000 of them since October! http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/sy...hind-its-goal-accepting-10-000-syrian-n552521 (enough for each state to have 25 of them)

Halfway into the fiscal year, the U.S. has accepted only 1,285 new refugees, data released by the State Department revealed this week. That represents just 13 percent of refugees that the U.S. has agreed to accept, even after Secretary of State John Kerry pledged to the international community last fall that the administration would step up its commitment to protect the families fleeing from Syria's six-year civil war.

Delay in large part because the "vetting process" is taking a long time.

A lack of preparedness for the sudden increase in refugee applicants and resources to vet them led to backlogs in the process.

But the State Department and Department of Homeland Security have started to increase their capacity to interview refugee applicants in Jordan in a multi-layer review process that typically takes 18-24 months to complete in full. Final refugee interviews are expected to wrap up for many by the end of April, clearing the way for rounds of refugees to arrive in the U.S. by the fall.

For comparison, Germany has over 350,000 of them.