New York: The White House has appeared to back away from a commitment to take more than a thousand refugees from Australia's offshore detention centres, saying President Donald Trump was "still considering" the plan on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told the National Press Club in Canberra Mr Trump's assurances on Sunday that he would honour the deal remained in tact, despite a White House official telling the ABC the new president was "still considering whether to actually go ahead" with the plan. The official reportedly said that if it did happened it would "be only because of the longstanding relationship with Australia".
More World News Videos
US confirms refugee resettlement
The US has revealed just how many refugees housed in Australia's offshore detention centres it will resettle, but only after conducting extreme vetting.
The clarification came after press secretary Sean Spicer used the daily White House press briefing to confirm the deal struck by the Obama administration would go forward, confirming for the first time that the US would subject 1250 people held on Manus Island and Nauru to "extreme vetting" for potential resettlement in the United States.
"Part of the deal is they have to be vetted in the same manner that we are doing now. There will be extreme vetting applied to all of them," Mr Spicer said in the briefing.
"The President, in accordance with that deal, to honour what had been agreed upon by the United States government, and ensuring that that vetting will take place, in the same manner that we're doing now, will go forward."
The apparent backtrack again raised fears that a recent executive order signed by Mr Trump, placing a temporary ban on refugees entering the US and imposing travel restrictions for people from seven Muslim-majority countries, would prevent any resettlement.
Fairfax Media sought clarification from the White House, but Mr Turnbull said the deal stood.
"That was the assurance the President gave me when we spoke on the weekend," he said.
![United States President Donald Trump.](/web/20170202084139im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/2/n/n/e/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu2nzl.png/1485940894485.jpg)
Mr Trump has faced pressure from senior Republicans to stop the resettlement, including from the chairs of the powerful House and Senate Judiciary Committees and outspoken Tea Party members.
The numbers align with federal government figures showing 380 people are held on Nauru and 866 on Manus, but refugee advocates say hundreds would left in limbo if they were not accepted.
![White House press secretary Sean Spicer's message to disgruntled workers is clear.](/web/20170202084139im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/2/o/4/8/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu2nzl.png/1485991668368.jpg)
Both Papua New Guinea and Nauru have moved some former immigration detainees into the community.
Some of the group being considered for the US deal are from the seven countries named in the executive order, including Iran, Iraq and Somalia.
![Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Minister for Immigration Peter Dutton at a press conference in Canberra on Monday.](/web/20170202084139im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/1/j/9/z/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu2nzl.png/1485940894485.jpg)
The new Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, John Kelly, gave some details on what the administration's new "extreme vetting" process could look like.
He said the department was considering looking at internet history, telephone records and social media accounts.
![Illustration: Ron Tandberg](/web/20170202084139im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/3/a/q/4/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gu2nzl.png/1485990935330.jpg)
"We have to be convinced that people that come here, that there's a reasonable expectation that we all know who they are and what they're coming here for and what their backgrounds are," he said.
Processing for the deal by US officials is more advanced in regard to Nauru, with application interviews and security vetting continuing last week. No interviews have taken place on Manus Island.
Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said the announcement would add to anxiety for those people held by Australia.
"This is a number that is not going to guarantee resettlement of all those people who have found to be refugees on Nauru and Manus, so the government has been rather loose with the truth," he said.
"There is now a very serious question over the length of time this process will take. It looks like even people who have been found to be refugees will wait for another year or even longer."
He said there was no transparency on Nauru about how selection for secondary interviews was made.
310 comments
Comment are now closed