The majority of them would be from Syria, he said.
The total number of refugees would rise to about 100,000 annually by 2017 — with some coming from war-torn parts of Africa, Kerry said.
The White House had previously said it would allow 10,000 additional Syrian refugees over the next 12 months. America took in 70,000 refugees in total last year.
Kerry cited post-9/11 security concerns and lack of funding from Congress to broaden background checks as the reason America couldn’t handle more.
“We’re doing what we know we can manage immediately,” he said.
Meanwhile, dozens of migrants died Sunday in a gruesome boat accident off the Turkish coast, officials said.
Thirteen asylum seekers were dead and another 27 missing in the blue water of the Aegean Sea after their boat sank near the island of Lesbos.
The migrants were trying to get to Greece from Turkey when their craft collided with a ferry, officials said.
Twenty-nine passengers were plucked from the choppy waters by rescue boats that quickly deployed in an effort to avoid a second disaster in as many days.
On Saturday, a boat carrying migrants also sank off the coast of Lesbos, and a 5-year-old girl drowned.
Another 10 to 12 people were listed as missing.
The refugees braved the dangerous crossing rather than risk war and famine at home.
But the situation in Europe is increasingly tenuous for the hordes of migrants headed west.
Hungary, the main point of entry on land, shut its border with Serbia Sept. 15 — setting off a stampede to the borders of Croatia and Slovenia as desperate migrants looked for a way to cross into the European Union.
Thousands are on the move all over southeastern Europe as authorities struggle to respond.
Some 11,000 migrants crossed from Hungary into Austria in the 24-hour period ending on midnight Saturday, with at least another 7,000 expected Sunday.
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