WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump tweeted that a plan for the U.S. to admit some asylum seekers now held near Australia is a “dumb deal.”
What’s the deal about?
Late last year, the Obama administration agreed to take asylum seekers who had been trying to make their way to Australia.
The mostly Muslim immigrants are being held in camps on the Pacific island nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Australia, which has been dealing with an influx of thousands of migrants fleeing conflict and poverty, won’t admit them and is instead paying for them to be held in the improvised island camps.
The Obama administration agreed to review the cases of about 1,300 asylum seekers and also consider the refuge requests of about 370 other people who came to Australia seeking medical treatment, then refused to return to the camps. It is unclear exactly how many refugees the U.S. agreed to ultimately accept.
