WASHINGTON – The Bush administration surpassed by nearly 2,000 its goal to admit 12,000 Iraqi refugees in the last budget year amid criticism it has not set the target high enough for the coming 12 months.

The United States allowed 13,823 Iraqi refugees into the country between Oct. 1, 2007, and Sept. 30, 2008, according to State Department figures obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday. This easily beats the goal the administration set for itself last year when it was under heavy criticism after admitting only 1,608.

Refugee advocates, human rights groups and some in Congress at the time denounced what they said was a dereliction of U.S. responsibility to the more than 2 million Iraqis who have fled their country since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003, prompting the administration to streamline the admissions process and expand its processing operation.

On Sept. 12, the State Department announced it had met the 12,000 target with two weeks to go until the deadline. It set a goal of admitting at least 17,000 Iraqi refugees during the next budget year, which runs until Sept. 30, 2009.

Refugee advocates say the new target is still too low. Some advocates say the target should be as high as 100,000.

“Now that systems are finally in place to process greater numbers of vulnerable Iraqi civilians, an increase of only 5,000 next year seems particularly meager,” the International Rescue Committee said in a statement late Tuesday.

That statement was released after President Bush said on Tuesday that the United States would accept up to 80,000 refugees from around the world – including 37,000 from the Middle East and South Asia, the region that encompasses Iraq – in the next 12 months, the same ceiling his administration set last year.