“This step is in keeping with America’s best tradition as a land of second chances and a beacon of hope,” Kerry told reporters. “And it will be accompanied by continued financial contributions to the humanitarian effort — not only from the U.S. government, but from the American people. The need is enormous, but we are determined to answer the call.”
Many, though not all, of the additional refugees would be Syrian, American officials have said. Others would come from strife-torn areas of Africa.
The announcement comes as the White House had previously announced it intended to take in another 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year.
Kerry did not say how many of the additional refugees would be from Syria but said that the US was ready to help.
The announcement also comes as amid warnings by US Republicans that the administration could open the door to potential “terrorists”.
Kerry told the Associated Press a lack of additional resources for security screening made absorbing more than 100,000 refugees impossible without Congress’ assistance. The news agency noted that even if all 30,000 refugees to be admitted were Syrian, “that number would pale in comparison to the hundreds of thousands that Germany is expected to accept, or the 800,000 Vietnamese that the U.S. resettled in the years after the Vietnam War.”
Europe, meanwhile, is struggling to absorb the estimated 475,000 migrants that have crossed the Mediterranean Sea in search of refuge. Some refugees have found themselves cut off as Hungary’s right-wing government recently erected a manned border wall to keep them out, while the Croatian government recently sent police to guard the border. German officials expect 800,000 to 1 million migrants to arrive in their country over the next 12 months.
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