Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says the U.S. should accept 65,000 more Syrian refugees, beyond the 10,000 the Obama administration has planned.
“Now, look, we’re facing the worst refugee crisis since the end of World War II and I think the United States has to do more,” Clinton said Sunday on the CBS show Face The Nation. “And I would like to see us move from what is a good start with 10,000 to 65,000, and begin immediately to put into place the mechanisms for vetting the people that we would take in.”
Clinton said the emphasis on who should be admitted to the U.S. as refugees should be persecuted religious minorities such as Christians, and those who have been brutalized, such as Yazidi women.
The Democratic candidate explained that she would like to see the U.S. “lead the world,” and added that she has called for the United Nations Secretary General to convene an international meeting on the refugee crisis.
“I have recommended that, at the upcoming U.N. General Assembly, there be an international meeting called by the secretary-general and literally get people to commit, putting money in, helping the front-line states, like Jordan and Turkey and Lebanon, who have absorbed a lot of refugees, working with the E.U. and the European countries, but getting everybody to make a contribution,” she said.
Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley has also called for the Obama administration to accept at least 65,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2016, saying the 10,000 the White House has planned for next year is a “token increase.”