The Obama administration will increase the number of worldwide refugees the United States accepts each year to 100,000 by 2017, a significant increase over the current annual cap of 70,000, Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday.
"This step that I am announcing today, I believe, is in keeping with the best tradition of America as a land of second chances and a beacon of hope," Mr. Kerry said, adding that it "will be accompanied by additional financial contributions" for the relief effort.
The American move, announced after Mr. Kerry held talks in Berlin with his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, still falls far short of the global demand for resettlement from people who continue to flee turmoil in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries.
