SYDNEY: The UN refugee agency accused Australia on Monday of reneging on an agreement to settle some vulnerable asylum seekers held in controversial offshore detention centers, but Canberra said no such agreement existed.
Australia takes a hard line on asylum seekers, with those intercepted at sea sent for processing at camps on the tiny South Pacific island of Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island and told they will never be settled in Australia.
The UNHCR said Australia agreed to settle some of the near 2,000 men and woman held offshore in exchange for the agency helping facilitate a swap deal with the United States.
“We agreed to do so on the clear understanding that vulnerable refugees with close family ties in Australia would ultimately be allowed to settle there,” UNHCR High Commissioner Filippo Grandi said in a statement.
“UNHCR has recently been informed by Australia that it refuses to accept even these refugees.”
A spokeswoman for Australia’s Minister for Immigration told Reuters no such agreement existed.
The swap deal, which involves the United States taking refugees from the offshore centers while Australia accepts refugees from Central America, is designed in part to help Australia empty the offshore facilities that have been heavily criticized by the UN and others..
US President Donald Trump earlier this year branded the swap deal “dumb.”
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UNHCR accuses Australia of backtracking on asylum seeker deal
UNHCR accuses Australia of backtracking on asylum seeker deal
US Homeland Security to pause two key travel programs amid shutdown, Washington Post says
- DHS began a partial shutdown last week after Republicans and Democrats failed to reach a deal on immigration enforcement reforms
The US Department of Homeland Security will temporarily suspend from Sunday its PreCheck and Global Entry programs that speed airport security checks for some travelers, the Washington Post said, due to a shutdown at much of the agency.
The halt in the programs run by the DHS will begin from 6 a.m. ET (1100 GMT), the newspaper cited an agency spokesperson as saying on Saturday.
DHS began a partial shutdown last week after Republicans and Democrats failed to reach a deal on immigration enforcement reforms.
The pause in programs is among the emergency measures DHS is taking to redirect staffing more than a week after Congress failed to send it more money, the paper said.
The agency is “making tough but necessary workforce and resource decisions” and prioritizing the “general traveling population” at entry points, the paper cited Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as saying in a statement.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
TSA’s PreCheck program allows approved passengers through a dedicated, faster security lane at US airports and is designed to reduce wait times and streamline screening.
Global Entry expedites US customs and immigration clearance for pre-approved, low-risk international travelers entering the United States.
On Thursday, the Trump administration ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a part of the DHS, to suspend the deployment of hundreds of aid workers to disaster-affected areas, due to the DHS shutdown.
The halt in the programs run by the DHS will begin from 6 a.m. ET (1100 GMT), the newspaper cited an agency spokesperson as saying on Saturday.
DHS began a partial shutdown last week after Republicans and Democrats failed to reach a deal on immigration enforcement reforms.
The pause in programs is among the emergency measures DHS is taking to redirect staffing more than a week after Congress failed to send it more money, the paper said.
The agency is “making tough but necessary workforce and resource decisions” and prioritizing the “general traveling population” at entry points, the paper cited Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as saying in a statement.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
TSA’s PreCheck program allows approved passengers through a dedicated, faster security lane at US airports and is designed to reduce wait times and streamline screening.
Global Entry expedites US customs and immigration clearance for pre-approved, low-risk international travelers entering the United States.
On Thursday, the Trump administration ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a part of the DHS, to suspend the deployment of hundreds of aid workers to disaster-affected areas, due to the DHS shutdown.
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