CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s prime minister says his government will not consider options for resettling refugees languishing on Pacific islands until the United States fulfills its promise to take up to 1,250 of them.
More than a year after President Donald Trump reluctantly agreed to honor an Obama administration deal by resettling hundreds of refugees rejected by Australia, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters on Friday that around 200 have so far found new homes in the United States.
Australia has a policy of not allowing any refugees who try to arrive by boat to settle in the country. It pays neighboring Papua New Guinea and the tiny Pacific nation of Nauru to hold around 2,000 asylum seekers.
Turnbull has again rejected a longstanding New Zealand offer to accept 150 refugees.