A tweet seems to says it all. “Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take in thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia! Why? I will study this dumb deal!”
But is this tweet accurate? Australia’s Prime Minister Turnball seems not to be sure. What is this deal that President Trump is referencing? It is an November 2016 one-time agreement that the US (then President Obama) would allow 1,250 asylum refugees to resettle in the US instead of being stuck in offshore detention centers on the Pacific nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
Australia refuses to accept asylum refugees who are mostly men from Iran, Afghanistan and Iraq, all countries now on the ban list for entry into the US. This ban is what prompted a call between the two leaders. There are differing media reports of the conversation on both sides of the water as well as officials reporting that the deal will be held. These inconsistencies make it hard to really know what occurred during the call and whether the deal will be upheld. Trump’s people are being mum except for when US presidential spokesman Sean Spicer said “Mr Trump intends to uphold the deal.”
None of this helps the refugees of 80% are truly refugees according to the UN. Some of detainees have spent several years in the camps awaiting a decision on their fate. Could it be years again before they can leave the detention camps? No one knows at this time. It is in President Trumps’ hands.