By Anne Gearan, Published: December 27, 2013

Only a tiny number of the more than 2 million refugees fleeing Syria’s civil war can meet the requirements to be resettled in the United States, frustrating international relief officials who say the numbers needing help could nearly double in the coming year.

The Obama administration allowed only 90 Syrian refugees to make permanent homes in the United States from the start of the Syrian civil war through September. About 50 made the journey from camps outside Syria to live in the United States over the past year, including 20 admitted since Oct. 1.

The trickle reflects the difficulty of resettling people during wartime, as well as a lack of political pressure on the United States to do more.

U.S. officials say their efforts in Syria have been focused on providing immediate humanitarian relief. They also note that resettlement policy strongly favors refugees who are targeted for persecution based on religion, politics or sexuality — criteria not met by most Syrian refugees.

International relief officials say they are frustrated by the small number of refugees admitted, as well as the long waiting times and high security hurdles applicants must navigate for resettlement in the United States. But officials are reluctant to say the very small numbers making it to U.S. shores mean that the United States isn’t pulling its weight.

Instead, many are hopeful about a new resettlement campaign by the Obama administration to bring up to 2,000 Syrians to the United States over the coming year, part of a stepped-up United Nations effort to permanently resettle more Syrians in other countries.

“We’re definitely trying to gear up,” said Larry Yungk, who works to coordinate U.S. resettlement efforts for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). “The United States has pledged to be a major part of this.”

As desperate and horrifying as the circumstances of most of those 2 million refugees are, only a minority meet U.N. and U.S. requirements for people so vulnerable that they simply can never go home again. Resettlement is the refuge of last resort and typically a sad hallmark of permanent political or sectarian shifts.

Refugees have to overcome stringent U.S. anti-terrorism security requirements before they can be admitted. The vetting process, which can take up to a year, screens out many whose path through Syria’s complex civil war is messy or undocumented.

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