The Obama administration is considering a range of options to respond to the escalating refugee crisis in the Middle East and Europe, a White House spokesman said.

"The administration is actively considering a range of approaches to be more responsive to the global refugee crisis, including with regard to refugee resettlement," Peter Boogaard, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said Monday.

The White House gave no details on what measures it might take, but Boogaard said America’s refugee resettlement policy was under review, including the possibility of opening the door to more refugees.

The United States, which as of now accepts up to 70,000 people a year, has been accused by critics of being slow in responding to the current global refugee crisis.

Boogaard said the US is in regular contact with countries in the Middle East and Europe most impacted by the refugee flows.

As conflicts in the Middle East, especially in Syria, have escalated, a growing number of people are leaving their homelands in hope of a better life in Europe.

The often-deadly journeys, which can involve crossing the Mediterranean on rickety boats, have resulted in graphic images across Europe and the Middle East that have shocked the world.

Washington has committed to accepting between 5,000 and 8,000 Syrian refugees before the end of 2016.

David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee, said last week the US should take 65,000 -- half of the 130,000 which the UN refugee agency wants to resettle by then.

"The US has historically been the world leader in recognizing the moral obligation to resettle refugees. But in the four years of the Syria crisis there has been inertia rather than leadership," Miliband, Britain's former foreign secretary, added.

Tens of thousands of refugees flooded Germany and Austria over the weekend after being stranded in Hungary for days.

Some 5,000 migrants arrived on Sunday at the train station in Munich, according to German police. The country's interior ministry said around 8,000 arrived in southern Germany the day before. The government has said it will accept 800,000 applications for asylum.

The United Nations estimates 300,000 people have left the Middle East and North Africa for Europe this year, but 2,500 have died in the attempt, the majority during dangerous voyages across the Mediterranean.