Prime minister affirms US president’s commitment to deal amid confusion over what exactly has been agreed to

Donald Trump has personally committed to honouring a refugee resettlement deal with Australia, the Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Wednesday, amid ongoing confusion over whether the deal will proceed and what has actually been agreed to.

“The Trump administration has committed to progress with the arrangements to honour the deal ... that was entered into with the Obama administration, and that was the assurance the president gave me when we spoke on the weekend,” Turnbull told an audience at the National Press Club in Canberra.

Asked whether the US’s “extreme vetting” could mean that fewer than the intended 1,250 refugees would benefit from the resettlement deal, Turnbull said it was for the US government to determine who goes to the US.

White House says US will take up to 1,250 refugees under Australian deal Read more

Turnbull’s comments follow a statement from the White House spokesman Sean Spicer who said the US had agreed to consider resettlement of 1,250 of the refugees held in Australia’s offshore detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru. Most have been on the islands more than three years.



“The deal specifically deals with 1,250 people, they’re mostly in Papua New Guinea, being held ... there will be extreme vetting applied to all of them as part and parcel of the deal that was made” Spicer told the White House press corps.

“The president, in accordance with that deal, to honour what had been agreed upon by the United States government … will go forward.”

However, Spicer’s comment was almost immediately undermined when the ABC’s Washington bureau was telephoned by a White House source insisting the agreement was still under consideration and the president had not made a final decision.

US travel ban - a brief guide The executive order signed by Donald Trump suspends the entire US refugee admissions system, already one of the most rigorous in the world, for 120 days. It also suspends the Syrian refugee program indefinitely, and bans entry to the US to people from seven majority-Muslim countries – Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen – for 90 days. The order has prompted a series of legal challenges, while thousands of Americans have protested outside airports and courthouses in solidarity with Muslims and migrants.

On Manus Island, there is widespread scepticism over Australia’s deal with the US, with many disbelieving anyone will be resettled.



Rohingyan refugee Imran Fazal Hoque told the Guardian from the Manus Island detention centre “we will not believe it until we see it”.



“We have stopped getting our hope too high because we don’t want to suffer from extreme depression anymore. However, it is excruciatingly hard to fight against the words like ‘refugees subject to extreme vetting’. We have no expectation as well as no dream. We will just take one day at a time.”

Behrouz Boochani, an Iranian journalist and refugee also held on Manus, said many refugees were frightened by the deal, “because this deal is between two countries that are opposed to refugees”.

Boochani said there was still confusion over what would happen to refugees from the Muslim-majority countries identified as “countries of concern” by the new US president.

“There are many questions about what will happen for the refugees from Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Somalia. It’s a very confusing and strange situation, and another torture on the refugees who have been living in this harsh situation for a long time.



“When I say systematic torture I mean exactly this kind of torture that plays with refugees by a cycle of good news then with bad news.”

Currently, there are about 1,900 people, refugees and asylum seekers, on Australia’s two offshore detention islands. The latest Australian government statistics show there are 871 men in detention on Manus Island and 373 people living in the regional processing centre on Nauru. About 700 more refugees sent to Nauru by Australia live in the community on that island. Only refugees – those recognised as having a well-founded fear of persecution in their home country – will be considered for resettlement.



Both Australian-run detention camps have been the subject of sustained criticism by the UN, human rights groups and other nations over systemic sexual and physical abuse of those detained, including rapes, beatings and the murder of one asylum seeker by guards; child sexual abuse; chronic rates of self-harm and suicide; dangerous levels of sustained mental illness, harsh conditions and inadequate medical treatment leading to several deaths.



The deal with Australia does not commit the US to unconditionally accepting any number of refugees from Australia’s offshore detention islands. The deal only commits the US to allowing refugees to “express an interest” in being resettled in America. Any, even all, refugees may be rejected during the “extreme vetting” process.

The future for the Australia-US deal was thrown into doubt by Trump’s sweeping travel and immigration bans, decreed by executive order and which halted entry to the US for nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.



Iranian refugees make up the largest cohort in both of the Australian-run offshore detention camps, and there are also significant Iraqi, Sudanese and Somalian populations. There is a small number of Syrians.

For the refugees on Manus and Nauru, the resettlement process is expected to take between six and 12 months. US authorities have visited both islands to outline the interview and vetting process. Some preliminary interviews have been held on Nauru.

Unicef said the Australian and US governments needed to act swiftly to end the “chronic uncertainty” for those held in offshore detention.

“Children in particular have been severely impacted by offshore processing, experiencing prolonged distress, violence, family separation and interrupted education. This arrangement creates a permanent pathway for children to grow up healthy, educated and to reach their full potential,” Amy Lamoin, head of policy and advocacy for Unicef Australia, said.

“While there is a legitimate need for health, security and identity checks for refugees on Manus Island and Nauru, the need for timely resettlement remains urgent.”

The prime minister yesterday praised the Coalition government’s immigration policies, saying his government had “restored integrity to our borders”, and said his government would continue to work with other national governments, including the US, to resettle refugees from Manus and Nauru.

His immigration minister, Peter Dutton, did not respond to a series of questions on the details of the US deal.

The Nauru files: the lives of asylum seekers in detention detailed in a unique database – interactive Read more

The Greens senator Nick McKim said it was absolutely clear that the US deal did not require the US to resettle a single refugee from Australia’s offshore islands.



“Only a fool or a lunatic would trust Donald Trump on anything – for Malcolm Turnbull to be placing any kind of faith in Trump’s word is naive.”

McKim said the extended uncertainty over their futures was causing significant harm to refugees held in offshore detention. And he asked what Australia had, or would, promise in return for the US resettling refugees from the Australian camps.

“Donald Trump is the most transactional political leader the world has ever seen. If he has done a favour for Australia with this deal, when is he going to call in the favour and how?

Shayne Neumann, the shadow minister for immigration, called for transparency, saying concerns over the resettlement deal “could easily be allayed if Malcolm Turnbull and [immigration minister] Peter Dutton were upfront and honest about the deal made with President Trump”.

“Labor supports the US refugee resettlement deal, but the government has kept people on Manus Island and Nauru for far too long and needs to clarify the situation quickly.”