Obama administration's Syrian refugee surge could approach 30,000 in next year

After a massive surge of effort, the administration is on pace to blow past President Obama’s goal of 10,000 Syrian refugees this fiscal year, and could end up taking in more than 12,000 if the pace continues — locking the next president into an even bigger 2017.

In July alone, 2,478 Syrian refugees were admitted. Another 453 were approved during the first week of August, and officials said that pace will continue beyond October, the beginning of fiscal year 2017.

At that rate, nearly 30,000 Syrians could be admitted in the next year.

“We can now say that we’ve welcomed 8,000 Syrian refugees so far this year and we are very confident we will welcome at least 10,000,” Assistant Secretary of State Anne C. Richard told reporters Friday, saying they plan to keep up the pace for the foreseeable future.

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