Feryal Jabur and her husband, Nayef Buteh, arrived in November in Detroit with their son, Arab Buteh, 8. They are among about 2,500 Syrian refugees admitted to the United States in the past eight months by the Obama administration, which wants to have 10,000 resettled by October. (Photo: Salwan Georges for The New York Times)

In a letter to Democratic Senator Richard Durbin, the White House said the government has enhanced manpower and added more processing facilities for asylum registration in the Middle East to speed up the screening process without compromising US security. By mid-May, only 1,736 Syrian refugees had been moved to the US, far off the 10,000 target for the full year.

The action of the US government was opposed by Republican leaders who have objected to receiving refugees, particularly since the bloodiest shooting in US history on Sunday in Orlando, Florida.