The US President Barack Obama thanked Canada and Germany for opening borders for people who need protection. These countries have assumed the responsibility during" crisis of epic proportions," he told in the UN Headquarters, during a summit organized by Washington D.C. on refugees issues. The President addressed special words of gratitude to the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, reports the DW.

Accepting refugees is a matter of morality for Obama. "If we turn refugees away simply because of their background or religion, or, for example, because they are Muslim, then we would be reinforcing terrorist propaganda that nations like my own are somehow opposed to Islam, which is an ugly lie that must be rejected in all of our countries by upholding the values of pluralism and diversity," said the US president. 

Commenting on the decision of  50 countries on accepting  about 350 thousand refugees , Obama said that the figure is twice large than it was in 2016. 
However , this number is significantly less than originally required by  the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees , who spoke about the need to accept 1.1 million refugees next year. US plans to accept in 2017 up to 110 thousand people who seek for a refuge. According to Obama , this year 85 thousand refugees arrived to the United States .