PanARMENIAN.Net - The United States and Australia are close to announcing a deal in which the U.S. would resettle hundreds of asylum seekers banished by Australia to Pacific island camps, a newspaper reported on Friday, November 11, according to the Associated Press.
The U.S. had agreed to accept up to 1,800 refugees held for up to three years at Australia's expense in camps on the impoverished island nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea, The Australian newspaper reported.
Such an agreement struck with the Obama administration could be opposed by President-elect Donald Trump, who has called for a moratorium or tight restrictions on Muslim immigration. Most of the asylum seekers are Muslims from the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
The agreement could empty the camps that have been condemned by human rights groups as a cruel abrogation of Australia's responsibilities as a signatory to the United Nations Refugee Convention.
Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull declined to comment on negotiations with the United States.
Rebecca Gardner, spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Australia, would not comment on the newspaper report, saying the State Department did not "comment on or discuss diplomatic negotiations."
Senior government minister Christopher Pyne praised the prospect of such an agreement being finalized before the Obama administration ends.
"There certainly is time — two and a half months is plenty of time — and if that's the case, it will be a great achievement for the Turnbull government...
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