Immigration Reform News: How Many Syrian Refugees Should America Accept?

Hillary Clinton joined calls for the U.S. to accept 65,000 Syrian refugees. Her voice echos a broad base liberal support for additional refugee resettlement in what appears to be back-and-forth haggling with the Obama administration in recent weeks. President Obama first responded to the mounting pressure by directing his staff to accommodate an additional 10,000 refugees in the coming fiscal year, up from the current total of 1,500. Clinton is the latest Democrat to say that the initial pledge of 10,000 is too low.

“I would like to see us move from what is a good start, 10,000, to 65,000,” Clinton told Amy Chozic of the New York Times, referring to a pledge made by the Obama administration last week .

The 65,000 number comes from a recommendation by the International Rescue Committee, whose members have lobbied aggressively for the administration to significantly increase Syrian resettlement. A group of Democratic legislators cited the the figure of 65,000 weeks ago, from a U.N. recommendation.

On Sunday, current Secretary of State John Kerry promised to take even more refugees.

Currently, the Obama administration pledges to take in 30,00 refugees over the next two years, increasing the total number of refugees from all countries slated to be accepted in the U.S. from 70,000 in 2015 to 100,000 in 2017.

The issue gained renewed international attention in recent months with the publication of images of a Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi , who drowned while his family attempted to reach Europe. Those images inspired former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley to endorse the IRC figure of 65,000 in an op-ed on Sept. 9th.

"I'm glad Secretary Clinton has joined my call to welcome 65,000 Syrian refugees by 2017. America must show moral leadership in the world,” O’Malley said in a statement .

The O’Malley campaign has criticized Clinton in the past for following the Obama administration’s lead on immigration issues, for example when she defended a policy of deporting child migrants from Central America in 2014 while she was Secretary of State.

“But to [show moral leadership] we must forge – not follow – public opinion, and be unafraid to call for what's right in the face of a crisis," O’Malley added.

Republican presidential candidates are split over the issue of resettlement, and few have offered up a specific number.

Democrats and Republicans have also sparred over who is responsible for the Syrian civil war and the resulting migrant crisis, with the former blaming destabilization on the Iraq war and the latter on Obama’s inaction as the crisis unfolded.

Both sides agree that refugees should undergo thorough vetting to prevent the proliferation of radicals. Anti-immigration groups such as the argue that this is close to impossible, citing the perpetrators of the Boston bombings, who were refugees that came to the U.S. as children.

There are an estimated 4 million Syrian refugees, plus millions more of internally displaced citizens fleeing from the ongoing civil war in that country.

Obama’s counter-offer of 30,000 over a period of two years still falls significantly short of the most ambitious proposals coming out of the Senate. Targets for 2017 could be rolled back by whomever is elected president in 2016.

“As far as I am concerned, I believe we should be prepared to accept [100,000] Syrian refugees,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) said last week, according to The Hill.

The IRC has also issued renewed calls to increase the number of Syrian resettlements to 100,000. That’s a big jump from 1,500. But if the last few weeks have shown refugee advocates anything in the past few weeks, it is that the Obama administration is willing to negotiate.