US Will Accept 10,000 Syrian Refugees
The United States will accept 10,000 refugees from the Syrian Civil War as hundreds of thousands continue to pour into Europe.
The refugees will be brought into the United States beginning Oct. 1 and have to undergo a background check process that can take as long as 18 to 24 months to complete, according to The New York Times. In 2015, the United States only accepted 1,293 refugees from the conflict in Syria.
By comparison, Germany has floated the idea of hosting 800,000 refugees while Venezuela has said it will open its borders to 20,000. Over just the last weekend, Germany granted access to 20,000 refugees, according to Reuters.
The moves by the United States and Germany come after Pope Francis urged all the Catholic parishes and institutions in Europe to welcome and provide food and shelter to the refugees. More than 300,000 fleeing violence in the Middle East and Africa have entered Europe this year.
The humanitarian crisis has spawned a range of responses ranging from merciful to hateful. While some countries have opened their borders, the government of Hungary has done as much as it can to stop migrants from crossing its borders.
In one recent incident that grabbed international headlines, a camerawoman for a Hungarian media organization was seen kicking and tripping refugees as they made a mad dash away from police that were charging at them with batons. Following an international outcry, the camerawoman was fired.
At the same time, a caravan of approximately 140 vehicles recently set off from Vienna Austria to enter Hungary and pick up as many migrants as they could carry and bring them to Germany.
