Obama administration, Australia's deal called for 'special interest' refugees

Published February 02, 2017 Fox News

Despite President Donald Trump calling it the worst deal ever, the United States
has reportedly agreed to keep a promise by the Obama administration to resettle
nearly 1,200 asylum seekers being held on Pacific island camps.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that during a weekend call, Trump
had agreed to honor the agreement made by the Obama administration to resettle
refugees.

Recent reports have suggested the conversation between Trump and Turnbull was a
fiery one.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer confirmed on Wednesday that Trump had agreed to
honor the deal. But a White House statement sent to Australian Broadcasting Corp.
on Thursday said, "The president is still considering whether or not he will move
forward with this deal at this time."

The U.S. State Department said in a statement later Thursday that the United States
would in fact honor the agreement "out of respect for close ties to our Australian
ally and friend."

Trump took to Twitter on Wednesday to call the Obama administrations refugee

program a dumb deal. Trump's administration also said "extreme vetting" would be
used to check refugee cases.
Australia refused to accept the refugees and instead pays for them to be housed on
the nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

The State Department classified details on refugees to be resettled in America via

a secret deal made with Australia. The New York Times has called the deal a one-
time agreement.

This is a backroom deal, wheeling and dealing with another country's refugee
problem, Center for Immigration Studies fellow Don Barnett told FoxNews.com late
last year. I dont believe for a moment its a one-time deal. Thats for public
consumption.

Secretary Jeh Johnson and Secretary of State John Kerry, key lawmakers Sen. Chuck
Grassley, R-Iowa, and Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. complained about the lack of candor
in a letter written to the Department of Homeland Security.

This situation is concerning for many reasons, the letter stated, adding, Your
departments negotiated an international agreement regarding refugees without
consulting or notifying Congress.

"The United States has agreed to consider referrals from the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) of refugees now residing in Nauru and Papua New Guinea," the
State Department said in a statement late last year. "These refugees are of special
interest to UNHCR and we are engaged on a humanitarian basis, as we are in other
parts of the world."

Australia has been under fire for paying the surrounding island nations to house
the refugees. The camps were reportedly created in an effort to curtail people
smuggling.

Australia has long had a policy which prevents individuals seeking asylum from
entering the country before proper vetting.
During a press conference in November of last year Turnbull said, Nobody is taking
any more refugees, but what the Americans are doing is assisting these individuals
on Nauru and Manus by bringing them in within their existing quota.

Starting in October, the Obama administration increased the number of refugees

admitted to the U.S. to 110,000 for the year.

Officials confirmed some of the refugees countries of origin to be Iran, Sri

Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq and Sudan.

Trump suspended U.S. refugee admissions for 120 days and set a 90-day ban on U.S.
entry for citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen in an
executive order last week.

Turnbull has resisted pressure this week to join other Western leaders in
condemning Trump's temporary ban of immigrants from the seven Muslim-majority
countries.

Some observers suspect Turnbull has held his tongue because he is grateful to Trump
for agreeing to honor the refugee deal.

Fox News' Melissa Jacobs, Alyssa Madruga and The Associated Press contributed to
this report.