Brooklyn, N.Y. – Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke released the following statement on the announcement that the United States will increase the number of refugees allowed to resettle in the United States to 100,000 annually by 2017, an increase from the current number, 70,000.

“There are now sixty million refugees around the world, more than at any time since the end of World War II. This crisis requires every nation – particularly nations such as the United States with substantial resources available – to provide assistance to protect the safety of families and children fleeing from conflict and persecution. The current instability in Syria has displaced more than four million people, yet only 1,400 Syrian refugees have been allowed to resettle in the United States. The many refugees who have risked death by attempting to travel in the desert without supplies or by sea on inadequate boats demonstrates the seriousness of their situation. These individuals are desperate. We have a responsibility to help. I commend the Department of State and President Obama on their decision to increase our efforts to offer safety to these refugees,” said Congresswoman Clarke,  who with seventy-one of her colleagues in the House of Representatives has urged President Obama to increase the annual number of refugees who are allowed to resettle in the United States to 130,000. “But we must continue in our efforts to provide assistance to the millions of people who are now at risk, as a result of persecution based on their religion, their race or nation of origin, or their political beliefs. The values we share as a civil society include the basic principle that the rights of every person are entitled to respect. We have the opportunity to act on that principle by welcoming families and children who want to escape the fear of persecution based on their identity or their beliefs.”

Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, the Committee on Ethics and the Committee of Small Business in the House of Representatives, proudly represents Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Midwood, Park Slope, Flatlands, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, and Windsor Terrace.