Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Thursday said that he is confident that the refugee resettlement deal struck in 2016 with the U.S. will hold under President Donald Trump.
Turnbull’s government and the Obama administration agreed to resettle to the U. S. no fewer than 1,300 asylum seekers being held in Australia-run offshore detention facilities on Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island.
Australian officials have been lobbying senior Trump advisors to stick to the deal amid concerns that it could be affected by his tough stance on migrants and refugees.
But Turnbull said that he is confident the agreement will go forward.
He said that the government was “certainly pushing ahead’’ with the deal, alongside “extensive discussions with the Trump administration, with whom we have very strong links and ties at many levels.’’
“I am confident we will maintain the arrangements we have entered into with the previous administration, they are in the interests of both parties,’’ he told reporters in Canberra.
Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said he had direct talks with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.
“We would like for that deal to continue with the Trump administration but we are working with the Trump officials at the moment,’’ Dutton said.
“They will make decisions that affect their administration and we respect that the fact it’s a decision for President Trump.’’ (dpa/NAN)