Obama May Rush Refugee Resettlement In Final Months As President

Refugees on Manus Island may also be reviewed for refugee settlement in the United States, according to the Times.

“The agreement is with the United States”. It will not be repeated.

“We still rely on regional processing, which is why Nauru will remain in its current status forever”, Minister Dutton said.

No people smuggling operation has successfully delivered asylum seekers to Australia by boat since July 2014.

Their arrival will come around two months before Mr Trump takes office, but Mr Turnbull would not be drawn on concerns about the incoming administration when asked today.

USA president-elect Donald Trump strongly campaigned on banning Muslim migration and putting up a wall to keep Mexicans out.

The UNHCR also points out refugees and asylum seekers have been “immensely damaged” by the years in detention.

When questioned about the prospect of sending Muslim refugees to a country led by someone who has indulged in vehement anti-refugee rhetoric, Turnbull said the government dealt with one administration at a time.

The news comes after outgoing Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday morning the United States will consider resettling asylum seekers from Nauru and Manus Island under a deal with Australia.

Turnbull told reporters on Monday he’d like to see this arrangement “proceed in a speedy manner”, but talked up Australia’s “very long history of cooperation with the United States”.

“Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world and should be leading by example at a time of global record high levels of people forced to seek safety”, said Amnesty International in a statement.

A new deal between the US and Australia could mean that America will accept 1,800 refugees from the controversial Pacific island camps, according to Fox News.

The Human Rights Law Centre said the announcement of a third country settlement deal revealed the Turnbull government had finally conceded that the Manus and Nauru detention arrangements were unsustainable.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs Hassan Qashqavi has said the condition in which the Iranian asylum seekers are held in Australia is “inhumane”.

The government has also announced it will set a permanent annual humanitarian refugee intake at nearly 19,000 a year, up from less than 14,000.

Canberra has long defended its policy of denying asylum-seekers resettlement in Australia, saying it has prevented deaths at sea.

Refugees who are offered the USA move but reject it would be offered a 20-year Nauru visa, while any future boat arrivals will not be eligible for the deal.

Some have suggested people smugglers will use the deal as a ploy to bring more asylum seekers to Australia. “It’s not a plan”, Mr Webb said.

“We are encouraging all countries to work with UNHCR, as we are going … to find a durable solution for these refugees”.

For months Australia’s conservative government has claimed to be in talks with unnamed countries to resettle refugees now based in Nauru and Manus, most of who come from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.