The United States is falling behind in its pledge to increase the number of Syrian refugees it accepts, NBC News reported.
Only 1,285 new refugees have been approved for resettlement halfway into the fiscal year, according to data released by the State Department. That’s less than 13 percent of the 10,000 the U.S. agreed to accept.
Officials say they haven’t been prepared for the increase in applicants, and they don’t have enough resources to vet them properly. But federal agencies say thousands of refugees would be cleared for travel to the U.S. by October.
The State Department and the Department of Homeland Security have started to increase their capacity to interview refugee applicants in a process that typically takes 18 to 24 months to complete in full. Final interviews are expected to wrap up for many by the end of April.
