Back in November 2016, the Australian Government made public a secret one-off deal with the Obama administration that would see all "genuine" refugees from our offshore detention facilities on Nauru and Manus Island resettled in the United States. The announcement was made only days after Donald Trump's shock election win. The timing raised some concerns, given the President-elect's campaign platform was built on a promise to halt immigration from Muslim countries. Today, a prominent US congressman has suggested Trump will indeed halt the deal.Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, Texas Republican congressman Brian Babin referred to the deal—apparently struck between Barack Obama and Malcolm Turnbull in secret over a number of months in 2016—as "madness". Babin, a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, said he expected President Trump would do "everything in his power to put an immediate stop to this secret Australian-US refugee deal that should have simply never happened in the first place.""It was made behind doors without any input from Congress. In fact, when Congress asked for details on the agreement and the refugees, the Obama administration refused to share the information," he said. "This secret deal to import dangerous refugees into the US is exactly what the American people soundly rejected in November with the election of Donald Trump."A media spokesperson from the Australian Government told the SMH that, despite what Babin says, Malcolm Turnbull still expects the refugee deal to proceed. Yet with Trump's January 20 inauguration fast approaching, time is running out to get a plan set in stone.Although specific details of the deal remain unknown, it appears to be mutually beneficial for both nations. The US would take Australia's refugees (72 percent of whom have been assessed as "legitimate") who are being kept indefinitely on Nauru and Manus. In turn, Australia would resettle those in the US—mostly Central Americans who are currently living in offshore camps in Costa Rica.However, the quid pro quo nature of the deal doesn't erase the fact that restricting "illegal" and Muslim immigration into the US was central to Trump's campaign platform. And many of those coming from Nauru and Manus Island will technically be both.Whatever happens, the secret deal has been confusing from the start. For one thing, the Australian Government's border protection policy rests on deterrence—the theory being that future refugees will be wary of trying to enter a country that has promised not to resettle them. Australia has rejected offers from New Zealand to resettle Nauru and Manus Island seekers, and it's unclear what makes the United States any different.There are currently 872 people being detained on Manus Island, and 390 people detained on Nauru. If the deal doesn't go ahead, they will likely continue to be held offshore indefinitely, in detention camps that have been roundly criticised by prominent human rights advocates like Amnesty International and the UNHCR.Follow Kat on Twitter
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