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MoveOn urges Obama administration to increase the number of Syrian refugees to at least 100,000 by end of 2015

Anna Galland, executive director of MoveOn.org Civic Action, had the following statement in response to President Obama’s directive for the United States to welcome at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next fiscal year:

“Today, President Obama has set far too low a goal for Syrian refugee resettlement in the United States. While we appreciate his move in the direction of welcoming more Syrian refugees, he must go much further.

“On Saturday, MoveOn members will launch AmericaWelcomes, a national campaign to press the Obama administration to welcome 100,000 Syrians into the US by the end of 2015, noting that the resettlement of Syrian refugees should not come at the expense of the resettlement of refugees from around the globe.

“The Syrian refugee crisis is among the most dire in the modern era. As a nation of immigrants and refugees, America can—and must—do much better than welcoming a mere 10,000 people. Germany, a quarter of the size of the U.S., expects to at least temporarily take in more than 800,000 people.

“This is a moment for America to join our global allies by acting with open-hearted courage and generosity.”

More about MoveOn members’ work to support Syrian refugees:

> MoveOn members have already responded to the Syrian refugee crisis by donating more than $200,000 to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

> More than 33,000 people have signed a MoveOn.org petition launched one day ago—started by Fatima Kuyateh, a MoveOn member and 10th-grade student in New York—urging the U.S. government to accept more refugees from Syria and elsewhere. See the petition at www.moveon.org/SupportSyrianRefugees.

> United to End Genocide President Tom Andrews discusses his MoveOn petition to President Obama to support Syrian refugees on CNN: https://youtu.be/Rfc3ERvtyNo

[Photo: Flickr/World Bank]