Obama Says US to Accept 10K Syrian Refugees; Won't Relax Their Criminal Background Checks

President Obama -- under increasing pressure to demonstrate that the United States is joining European nations in the effort to resettle Syrian refugees -- has told his administration to take in at least 10,000 displaced Syrians over the next year, the NY Times website reports today (September 10, 2015).

He emphasized that the U.S. has no intention of relaxing the significant and lengthy criminal and terrorist background vetting procedures demanded of refugee applicants -- an expensive process that can take 18 to 24 months to complete -- in order to ensure that terrorists and supporters of  Islamic militants will be rejected as refugees in the U.S.

Since the beginning of the ongoing conflict in Syria more than four years ago, the U.S. has accepted only 1,300 refugees.

White House officials have had frequent meetings on the Syrian crisis, and the issue is likely to become central in the presidential campaign.