Australia says US-bound refugees hit by Trump order

By AFP January 31, 2025 | 02:03 am PT

U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters from the Resolute Desk after signing an executive order to appoint the deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration in the Oval Office at the White House on Jan. 30, 2025. Photo by AFP

Australia's government says a group of U.S.-bound refugees has been caught up in President Donald Trump's crackdown on migration.

Trump issued an executive decree within hours of taking office on Jan. 20, halting arrival of all refugees to the United States.

Under a 2016 U.S.-Australia agreement, up to 1,250 refugees being held in Australian offshore detention centers were able to seek resettlement in the United States.

By the end of August last year, 1,106 refugees had already moved to the United States, the Australian government said.

"Less than 30 transitory individuals continue to pursue resettlement in the United States through the U.S. resettlement arrangement -- cases are at various stages of the process," said a spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs.

Trump's order affected all refugee applications, including from people temporarily in Australia, the spokesperson said in a statement provided to AFP on Friday.

Australia was "awaiting further advice" from the United States about its plans for the refugee resettlement program, the department said.

Under a hardline policy introduced in 2012, Australia sent thousands of migrants attempting to reach the country by boat to "offshore processing" centers.

They were held in two detention centers - one on Nauru and another, since shuttered, on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island.