The United States said it would welcome its 10,000th Syrian refugee of this fiscal year on Monday, meeting a controversial target amount more than a month ahead of schedule.

"On behalf of the president and his administration, I extend the warmest of welcomes to each and every one of our Syrian arrivals, as well as the many other refugees resettled this year from all over the world," National Security Advisor Susan Rice said in a statement.

"This decision still represented a six-fold increase from the prior year, and was a meaningful step that we hope to build upon."