The incumbent administration is planning to admit 110,000 refugees in the 2017 fiscal year in comparison with 85,000 in 2016 and 70,000 in 2015, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing an annual refugee report to the US Congress.
According to the report, the United States is expected to admit at least 40,000 from the Near East and South Asia region, which includes Syria, and some 35,000 from Africa.
On September 20, Obama is expected to host the Leaders' Summit on Refugees on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. His co-hosts will be government representatives from Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Jordan, Mexico and Sweden.
The world is currently beset by a major refugee crisis as hundreds of thousands migrants flee their home countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The majority of refugees are arriving in EU member states, but thousands of them try to apply for asylum in the United States.