Australia's Refugee Resettlement Deal With the US is Confusing

Australia's Federal Government announced over the weekend that a one-off deal will see "genuine" refugees from detention facilities on Manus Island and Nauru resettled in the United States. There are currently 872 people being detained on Manus Island, and 390 people detained on Nauru.

The details are yet to be ironed out, but the vast majority of those in offshore detention—72 percent of them have been assessed as legitimate refugees—could benefit from the deal, pending a vetting process by US officials. The government has supposedly been negotiating the agreement in secret since January. Australian parliament does not have to pass any legislation in order for it to go ahead.

To be clear, Australia offloading its refugees on the US is unprecedented and, for most observers, pretty baffling. Let's break down why.

Firstly, this is a government that wants to ban all asylum seekers who arrive by boat—including the very same people currently detained on Manus Island and Nauru—from ever obtaining Australian visas. That legislation is currently facing the Senate, having passed the House of Representatives last week.

The theory behind the policy is that in the future refugees will be deterred from seeking asylum in Australia via boat. Yet being settled in the United States is hardly a poor alternative to being settled in Australia. In many ways, it's an even better option.

The head scratching continues when you recall that Australia has rejected offers from New Zealand to resettle those on Nauru and Manus Island, too. What makes the United States any different? The answer is unclear.

Of course, the United States resettlement has come at a steep price: boat arrivals have been incarcerated on Nauru and Manus Island for years, and human rights groups say this has taken an enormous toll on their mental and physical health.

Amnesty International, which has long been critical of Australia's offshore detention program, was only very cautiously optimistic about the announcement.

"It is absolutely shameful that the Australian Government has first sent several thousand people to languish for three years on Nauru and Manus Island, set up an offshore processing regime on Nauru that amounts to torture and is now passing the buck when it comes to offering them protection," Dr Graham Thom, refugee coordinator at Amnesty International Australia, said in a media statement.

"Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world and should be leading by example… Yet our Government is failing to play a fair part in providing sanctuary for those fleeing conflict and persecution, and this urgently needs to change."

However, Amnesty was forced to acknowledge that the personal outcomes for those genuine refugees would be positive. "We are pleased that for those who may be resettled in the US the abuse will come to an end and we acknowledge the US for giving people a genuine chance at settling and restarting their lives in a safe place," the organisation said.

"What this announcement clearly shows is that the Australian government has finally acknowledged that Australia's offshore processing policy is not tenable and Australia's centres on Nauru and Manus Island must be urgently emptied and closed."

Similarly, UNHCR has been critical of the solution only catering to those in detention who have been identified as "genuine" refugees. "There's still a large number of vulnerable people who in fact have been immensely damaged by these arrangements and who equally will need a solution at some point," UNHCR's external relations officer, Catherine Stubberfield, told the ABC.

Human rights concerns aside, there's one nagging question that remains—what about Donald Trump? The President-elect is not a big fan of illegal immigrants, nor Muslim immigrants, and many of those coming from Nauru and Manus Island will technically be both.

The Australian government is hardly unaware of this, and Malcolm Turnbull is reportedly trying to rush negotiations with the Obama administration to get things moving as soon as possible—Trump isn't inaugurated until January 20.

"I deal with one administration at a time," Turnbull told Sky News on Sunday. "The United States government meets its commitments from one administration to another."

Follow Kat on Twitter