US officials begin vetting asylum seekers
Trump labelled Obama pact with Australia a ‘dumb deal’, but said he would stand by it
US officials began taking fingerprints of asylum seekers in an Australianrun camp on the Pacific island of Nauru yesterday, signalling that vetting of applicants for resettlement in what US President Donald Trump called a “dumb deal” has restarted.
Australia agreed with former US President Barack Obama late last year for the United States to resettle up to 1,250 asylum seekers held in much criticised processing camps on Papua New Guinea and Nauru. In return, Australia would resettle refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
Trump labelled the agreement a “dumb deal” in a Tweet, but said he would stand by it.
Interviews with more than half a dozen detainees on Nauru confirmed the US Homeland Security officials arrived on Saturday, with meetings with detainees beginning yesterday.
Two asylum seekers, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears of jeopardising their applications to settle in the United States, said Homeland Security officials did not ask any specific questions.
“It was not a normal interview, they just collected fingerprints and took my height and weight,” the Iranian refugee said.
Other refugees showed journalists appointment slips to meet US officials.
Similar biometric data collection would begin at the Australian-run detention centre in Papua New Guinea in early April, detainees were told by immigration officials last week.
Strict policy
Australia maintains a strict policy of not allowing anyone who tries to reach the country by boat to settle there, instead detaining them in the camps on Nauru and PNG in conditions that have been harshly criticised by rights groups.
Some asylum seekers have spent years in the camps, with numerous reports of sexual abuse and self-harm among detainees, including children. Christmas Island
AUSTRALIA
269 Northam 326 Adelaide 14 Melbourne 204 Manus Island
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
861 Brisbane 87
Sydney 420
NAURU
380