By Kirsty Needham
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Dozens of refugees who arrived in Australia by boat a decade ago and expected to resettle in the United States have been affected by the Trump Administration’s freeze on refugee programs, an Australian official told Reuters.
Australia is “awaiting further advice” from the United States government on the ongoing operation of its refugee programme, suspended by an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Jan. 20, a Home Affairs spokesperson said.
“Less than 30 transitory individuals continue to pursue resettlement in the United States through the U.S. resettlement arrangement – cases are at various stages of the process,” he said.
Australia does not allow asylum seekers who arrive by boat to settle in the country. Canberra introduced a tough policy of offshore processing a decade ago, where boat arrivals were transferred to camps in the Pacific Island nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea (PNG) for assessment of refugee claims.
Under a 2016 deal struck with the Obama Administration, the United States agreed to resettle up to 1250 refugees from the PNG and Nauru offshore processing centres.
In his first presidency Trump complained about the deal but accepted it.
The Home Affairs department said in August that 1106 refugees had been able to resettle in the United States under the agreement, although many were also at “various stages of pre-departure activities”.
The centre-left government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has stepped up efforts to show it is deterring boat arrivals with a national election due by May.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke will travel to Nauru on Thursday and said in a statement he will visit the regional processing centre.
Australia continues to send a small number of asylum seekers arriving by boat each month to Nauru, although the Papua New Guinea centre closed after a court ruled it was illegal.
“Nauru remains ready to receive and process any new unauthorised maritime arrivals, future-proofing Australia’s response to maritime people smuggling,” the department spokesperson said.
Australia is in discussions with New Zealand to extend a resettlement programme, he said.
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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