Obama weighs options on Syrian refugee crisis

The Obama administration is opening the door to the possibility of allowing more Syrian refugees into the United States, marking a subtle but significant change in the White House's thinking about how best to respond to the mounting humanitarian crisis.

"The administration is actively considering a range of approaches to be more responsive to the global refugee crisis, including with regard to refugee resettlement," said Peter Boogaard, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said Monday.

That statement represents an evolving re-assessment of the situation by the Obama administration following graphic images from across Europe and the Middle East: A 3-year-old Syrian boy washed up on a Turkish beach, thousands of refugees trying desperately to leave a Hungarian train station, and the truck along an Austrian highway where 71 refugees were abandoned and left to die.

Those incidents have led to European nations — most recently France, England and the tiny Vatican City — stepping up their commitments to allowing refugees.

Late last week, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest acknowledged the "terrible humanitarian tragedy that's unfolding in the Middle East," but deliberately stopped short of indicating any possible change in resettlement policy. "I’m not aware of any impending policy change as it relates to immigrants from that region of the world entering the United States," he said.

Monday's statement puts the resettlement issue on the table. The White House did not suggest any time frame for a decision, but under federal law, the president must establish the annual refugee ceiling before Oct. 1.

This year, that ceiling is 70,000 worldwide. About 2,000 of them will come from Syria this year. In 2014, that number was only 132.

There are some calling for the United States to take 65,000 Syrian refugees next year. Among them: a coalition of religious and relief groups, 14 Democratic senators and former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president.

But some in Congress have also urged caution. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chaired a hearing on the issue in June and expressed concerns that "terrorist groups may seek to use Syrian refugee programs as a gateway to carry out attacks in Europe and America."

Another policy question for the president: Whether to allow refugee status to people still in Syria.

In order to claim refugee status, displaced people must typically be displaced from their home country because of "persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion."

But the president can make exceptions, allowing people to claim refugee status from within their own country. Obama has done so for refugees from Iraq, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Cuba.

The White House insists that the United States is contributing to the relief effort, even if not through resettlement. Since the crisis erupted in 2011, the United States has sent $4 billion in aid to neighboring countries, Earnest said. And, he said, the U.S. has experience in dealing with a similar crisis along its southern border last summer and can provide technical assistance.