SYDNEY: Australia is expected to pass a law on Thursday making it easier to deport non-citizens to third countries, reviving criticism from human rights groups that it was “dumping” refugees in small island states and drawing comparisons with Trump policies.
As the United States seeks Pacific Island nations willing to accept deported non-citizens, Australia last Friday signed a deal with Nauru to resettle hundreds of people who have been denied refugee visas because of criminal convictions.
The planned new law removes procedural fairness when Australia deports a non-citizen to a third country and is designed to limit court appeals, said the government. It is expected to pass in Australia’s parliament after the opposition Liberal Party said it would support the move.
Australia will pay an upfront A$400 million to establish an endowment fund for the resettlement scheme, plus A$70 million a year in costs, Nauruan President David Adeang said in a budget speech last Friday.
Two-thirds of Nauru’s revenue last year, or A$200 million ($129.96 million), came from hosting an Australian-funded processing center for asylum seekers.
Nauru, which has a population of 12,000 and a land area of just 21 square km (eight square miles), is reliant on foreign aid, and faces a 2025 deadline to repay Taiwan A$43 million ($27.94 million) after switching diplomatic ties to Beijing, according to budget documents.
Under a decade-old policy to discourage people smuggling, Australia sends asylum seekers who arrive by boat to offshore detention centers to have refugee claims assessed, denying them Australian visas. The practice has been criticized by the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
The new Nauru resettlement scheme will cover a different group, whose visas were canceled by Australia because they served prison sentences or were refused visas on character grounds, and cannot return to countries including Iran, Myanmar and Iraq because of the risk of persecution.
Australia’s High Court ruled in 2023 that indefinite immigration detention was unlawful, resulting in around 350 non-citizens being released into the community, with a third subject to electronic monitoring.
One of this group, a 65-year-old Iraqi man, lost a High Court appeal against deportation to Nauru on Wednesday.
Law Council of Australia President Juliana Warner said on Wednesday the deportation law was “troubling” because it could put those sent to Nauru at risk of not receiving necessary health care, and is being rushed through parliament without adequate public scrutiny.
Several independent lawmakers said they were concerned it could be applied more widely than the 350 released by the High Court decision, with up to 80,000 people in the community without a visa.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke declined to comment on the 80,000 figure, and has said the law change is needed to maintain the integrity of the migration system.
The move was “absolutely Trump-like,” said Jana Favero, the deputy chief executive of the Asylum Seeker Resource Center.
Independent lawmaker Monique Ryan told parliament she was concerned stateless individuals and refugees who had never been convicted of a crime would be sent offshore without proper oversight, and Australia was “using a small island nation as a dumping ground.”
Australia moves to speed up third country deportation of non-citizens
https://arab.news/9te3q
Australia moves to speed up third country deportation of non-citizens
- The planned new law removes procedural fairness when Australia deports a non-citizen to a third country and is designed to limit court appeals, said the government
US hotels seek World Cup boost after tourism dip under Trump
- At the US hotels that Meade Atkeson manages, a drop in tourism weighs heavily on business — but hoteliers like him hope that World Cup enthusiasm will soon eclipse wariness over President
WASHINGTON: At the US hotels that Meade Atkeson manages, a drop in tourism weighs heavily on business — but hoteliers like him hope that World Cup enthusiasm will soon eclipse wariness over President Donald Trump’s policies.
The US hospitality sector has been reeling from a tourism slump in the world’s biggest economy, which became the only major destination to see a drop in foreign visitors last year.
“Just financially, it’s difficult when international travel is down,” Atkeson told AFP, noting that such visitors tend to stay longer and spend more.
Foreign travelers account for nearly a quarter of business at the three hotels under Sonesta group that he manages — two in Washington and a third in Miami Beach.
Yet, in the first eleven months of 2025, US official data showed that inbound travel dropped by 5.4 percent.
Canadians were noticeably absent, with travel plunging by 21.7 percent from 2024, translating to about four million fewer people. The decline was nearly seven percent for French visitors.
Industry professionals see this as a consequence of Trump’s policies, even if they may not openly say so.
Visitors have chafed at the Republican president’s sweeping tariffs on foreign goods, broadsides against other countries, tightening immigration rules and portrayal of certain Democrat-led cities as ridden with crime.
Canadians “were asked to be the 51st state, right?” Atkeson said.
“If you talk to Canadians, many of them have chosen not to travel out of conscience” or on principle, he added.
Brazilian tourists meanwhile “can go anywhere they want,” he said. “And so they may have gone to Europe, they may have gone to the islands.”
‘Fear’
Thousands of kilometers away, the major resort city of Las Vegas in Nevada — boasting 150,000 hotel rooms — has also had a bad year.
Elsa Rodan, a chambermaid at the Bellagio resort and casino, says her establishment is “blessed” compared with others.
But even so, it has had to lower prices to attract guests, added Rodan, a representative of the Unite Here union who spoke at a Washington press conference.
Unite Here President Gwen Mills urges for a renewed effort to lobby the Trump administration over policies and rhetoric that she believes are jeopardizing the sector employing more than two million people.
According to her, hoteliers are not pushing the government enough.
Employers express “fear, the fear of picking your head up,” she said.
Hopefully ‘better’
Fewer visitors and overnight stays, alongside a drop in revenue, have triggered a $6.7 billion shortfall for Nevada hotels in 2025, according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA).
But the organization hopes that 2026 will be a turning point — it is counting on the World Cup, from June 11 to July 19, to attract visitors.
Eleven US cities will be hosting matches.
“It’s being equated to having nearly 80 Super Bowls in just over a month,” AHLA spokesman Ralph Posner told AFP.
“The economic lift won’t be limited to host cities,” he added. “Destinations across the country are hoping to benefit as international visitors extend their trips and travel between markets.”
Las Vegas, for example, hopes to draw fans who might stop there before or after a game in Los Angeles or Kansas City.
Organizers say that besides the seven million spectators in stadiums, the World Cup is set to attract 20-30 million tourists.
The whole event, they believe, can generate $30 billion for the US economy.
“I hope that things will look better,” Atkeson said.
His Miami hotel is under renovations and cannot host much World Cup-related activity.
But his Washington establishments are highlighting their proximity to Philadelphia, where several matches will be held.
Another complication is war in the Middle East following US-Israeli strikes on Iran, which could snarl travel.
“It’s a little too soon to tell how we’re going to do with that, but we’ll see,” he said.
