U.S. to accept 110,000 refugees in 2017

A sign welcoming refugees in Northern Ireland.
(Image credit: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

The Obama administration will increase the number of refugees it will allow into the United States over the next year to 110,000, an increase of more than 57 percent since 2015.

A State Department official told NBC News the move is "consistent with our belief that all countries should do more to help the world's most vulnerable people." A senior White House official said at least 40,000 of the refugees are from South Asia and the Near East, with many of them likely from Syria, and they will undergo "rigorous screening" before they can enter the U.S.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.