US to meet goal of admitting 10,000 Syria refugees ahead of time

[MowCowWhoHow III]

Source: AFP

Washington (AFP) - The United States said it would welcome its 10,000th Syrian refugee of this fiscal year on Monday, meeting a controversial target amount more than a month ahead of schedule.

"On behalf of the president and his administration, I extend the warmest of welcomes to each and every one of our Syrian arrivals, as well as the many other refugees resettled this year from all over the world," National Security Advisor Susan Rice said in a statement.

"This decision still represented a six-fold increase from the prior year, and was a meaningful step that we hope to build upon."

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-meet-goal-admitting-10-000-syria-refugees-165810512.html

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[ucrdem]

1. Gobama.

It's nice to have a morsel of moral authority again.

[pipoman]

8. Too bad it doesn't apply to 15 million desperate humans already here....

[maxsolomon]

11. He can't force Congress to do the right thing

If I have any criticism, it's that 10K Syrians is 10X too small.

[mwrguy]

2. Good! It's a great start.

Now let's make the next goal 100,000 and after that one million.

[yeoman6987]

3. 325 million is a good number

1 refugee per American. Then perhaps we as a whole can come to understand the difficulties they face. It's the only way. 1 million won't change enough.

[pipoman]

9. Twisted

[yeoman6987]

14. I very progressive and liberal. Not twisted at all

I feel that we are extremely spoiled as a country and learning from refugees is a great start.

[pipoman]

15. Maybe you haven't paid for what we have with enough blood. I have.

I am open to immigration from non threatening immigrants in reasonable numbers as has been historically sustainable. Charity begins at home, not one Syrian "refugee" until our neighbors are a legitimate part of society.

The only people who want to "teach this spoiled country a lesson" are the haters of the country. Those with zero investment. Those who are blind. Fuck anyone who thinks ruining this country is a good idea.

[yeoman6987]

16. Wow. Holy crap. Sad.

[pipoman]

10. Why?

There are plenty of desperate people who are actually on the North American continent we should invite/legitimize first. Charity begins at home.

[ucrdem]

17. "Charity begins at home" is Brexit logic.

We're better than that, thankfully. But since you asked there are moral and political reasons that make it imperative. Morally, a threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, to borrow a phrase from ML King Jr., and politically, it's one of the things we elected the current administration to do, namely "Respond to Humanitarian Crises," as set out in the 2012 Dem Platform:

https://www.democrats.org/party-platform#universal-values

There are also international treaty obligations that the US is legally bound to fulfill:

https://freedomhouse.org/blog/syrian-refugees-primer-international-legal-obligations

[romanic]

4. I hope they're here with good intentions.

I just don't want what's been happening in Europe happen here.

[True Dough]

5. Parts of Europe have been experiencing chaos and crime

because hundreds of thousands of unvetted refugees have flowed over the borders of some countries. What do you think would happen if you threw the doors of your house open to every homeless person the street of your city/town? You'd encounter a lot of grateful people, but there would also be some criminals in the mix. Some who would rob you. Some who would damage your home and belongings. Some who would be belligerent toward you despite your generosity. Fortunately this is the minority, and that's true in Europe as well. The media focuses, however, on the troublemakers. The people who are settling in and adapting to a new life -- the majority -- don't make for sexy headlines.

The refugees who have arrived in the U.S. will have been screened by the United Nations and by the American government. Canada and Australia have taken in a combined 50,000+ refugees since last year. There have been no incidents of terrorism. There is little to fear.

[olddad56]

6. as far as the presidential election goes, this plays right into Trump's hands.

[maxsolomon]

12. except it's a 2 year process to get in

they're "vetted". extremely vetted. vetted like you wouldn't believe.

[pampango]

13. Perhaps. But no 'triangulation' here. No adopting conservative policy in pursuit of 'moderate' votes

No fear of following through on liberal policy promises because we are afraid of the reaction of moderates and conservative. Obama is doing what he said he would do. It is nowhere near the refugee effort made by Canada which is much, much smaller than we are.

[brooklynite]

7. Any Democratic candidate who won't welcome them won't be getting money from me...

...that list currently includes Maggie Hassan and Patrick Murphy.