WASHINGTON — The number of Syrian refugees coming to the United States — particularly to states such as Texas and Pennsylvania — is surging even amid national debate over whether to accept them.

According to State Department figures released Friday, 2,340 Syrian refugees entered the United States in July after 2,406 came in June.

The two-month influx was almost twice as many as the 2,591 refugees who’d arrived during the previous eight months.

From October 2015 through May of this year, an average 323 refugees entered the United States each month, as the Obama administration ramped up efforts to meet a pledge of taking 10,000 refugees.

Now that 7,551 Syrians have arrived, the United States appears likely to hit its goal by a Sept. 30 target.

The surge comes as Syrians flee a five-year civil war among the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, rebels and other groups.

Their surging number in the United States has renewed criticism by some Republicans who, like presidential nominee Donald Trump, express concern that terrorists may slip into the country undetected among a throng of refugees.

“At this point in history, with the sworn enemy we face, it is outrageously irresponsible to continue to admit refugees we cannot adequately screen,” said Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., in a statement.

Despite such sentiment, refugee workers report an increase in donations and offers to volunteer.

“What they see on TV isn’t what they see in reality,” said Qahtan Mustafa, an interpreter and case manager in Austin, Texas.

Some states are experiencing the waves of refugees more than others.

Despite refusing to accept the refugees — a ban thrown out in court — Texas has seen 534 arrive since last October, which is fourth-most in the country.

In July, 206 refugees arrived in Texas, after 174 came in June.

Their combined number more than doubled the 154 Syrian refugees who moved to Texas in the eight previous months.

Pennsylvania has taken 460 refugees — fifth-most nationally. In the past two months, 219 Syrian refugees have arrived, including 120 in July.

That’s almost as many as the 241 who’ve come to Pennsylvania in the previous eight months combined.

Michigan’s 870 refugees, California with 730, and Arizona with 620, topped the nation, according to the State Department.

Barletta and others said they are concerned that insufficient background records exist in war-torn Syria to sufficiently screen people fleeing to the United States.

The State Department has increased staffing to screen more refugees. Speaking to reporters in March, State Department spokesman John Kirby said they “are subject to more scrutiny than refugees from any other place in the world.”

The administration is trying to “strike the right balance of meeting the goal that the president set” with “meeting our obligations to the safety and security of the American people and not changing or watering down or decreasing the level of scrutiny that refugees from Syria are put through before they come here to the United States,” Kirby said.

Refugees coming to the United States last month arrived in the heat of the summer political conventions, with warring rhetoric over whether they are, in fact, welcome.

In accepting the Republican nomination for president, Trump called the prospect of terrorists sneaking into the country guised as refugees “a better, bigger version of the legendary Trojan Horse.”

An Associated Press-GfK poll in July found 53 percent of Americans believe the United States brings in too many Syrian refugees, while another 33 percent believe the number is about right.

As Trump was speaking, Rev. Wes Magruder, senior pastor of the Kessler Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, was loading a just-arrived Syrian family, sponsored by his church, into a car at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Magruder had been listening to the Republican convention on the radio on the way to the airport.

“Just as I’m strapping one of the kids into the car seat, Trump is on the radio talking about Syrians. I’m frantically trying to turn off the radio because he’s ranting about Obama’s decision to accept 10,000 refugees,” said Magruder, who is president of the board of Refugee Services of Texas.

The group’s president, Aaron Rippenkroeger, said refugees likely are aware of the controversy.

“It’s on every time you turn on the TV,” he said.

Mustafa, the Austin interpreter who is an Iraqi refugee, said “they don’t feel well” about what they see on television and social media.

But while Rippenkroeger’s office gets calls and emails attacking its role in resettling Syrians, it also sees shows of support.

“When you see one perspective on the rise, you see a counter perspective on the rise, as well,” he said.

In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Amy Strawser, immigration and refugee services director for Catholic Charities, said her group has experienced that kind of support.

One couple donated money rather than give each other wedding gifts, she said. They asked their wedding guests to donate to the group in lieu of gifts, as well.

“One woman called and said she was the mother of small children and couldn’t offer anything financially, but said, “I would like my family to be a friend to a Syrian refugee,'” she said.

Strawser said her group worked with 22 refugees in June — far more than normal.

“We only used to see a couple of families a year,” she said.

Kery Murakami is the Washington, D.C. reporter for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach him at kmurakami@cnhi.com.