US receives more than 5,600 refugees from Turkey

WASHINGTON

“The U.S. took a total of 5,624 refugees out of Turkey last year, including 664 Syrian refugees, as well as significant numbers of Iraqis, Iranians and Afghans,” U.S. Assistant Secretary Anne C. Richard of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration said. AA Photo

The United States has taken more than 5,600 refugees from Turkey, including 664 Syrian refugees, and expects to see those numbers rise in the coming months, a U.S. State Department official said April 3.

“The U.S. took a total of 5,624 refugees out of Turkey last year, including 664 Syrian refugees, as well as significant numbers of Iraqis, Iranians and Afghans,” U.S. Assistant Secretary Anne C. Richard of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration said at a press roundtable at Ankara’s U.S. embassy on April 3.

The event discussed the number of Syrian refugees taken in by the United States from Turkey. 

Sharing her expectations for this year and the next, Richard said, “The number of Syrian refugees taken in by the U.S. would likely reach 1,000-2,000 before the end of September and there would be several thousand next year.”  

Richard also said the United States could take some of the most vulnerable refugee cases, including people with severe medical problems, people who have been traumatized, torture survivors who need specialized treatment, widows and orphans.