Australia maintains a strict policy of not allowing anyone who tries to reach the country by boat to settle there, instead detaining them in the camps on Nauru and PNG in conditions that have been harshly criticized by rights groups.
Some asylum seekers have spent years in the camps, with numerous reports of sexual abuse and self-harm among detainees, including children.
One 36-year-old woman told Reuters by phone from Nauru she did not want to be too hopeful about resettlement.
“For me, I really don’t believe anything (about) when I get out from this hell,” she said. “I heard too many lies like this in this three and half years.”
A spokeswoman for Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton declined to comment. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. security interviews with asylum seekers on Nauru were canceled last month amid uncertainty about what constituted “extreme vetting” Trump promised to apply to the 1,250 refugees it agreed to accept.
Some asylum seekers said the latest developments gave them hope.
“I think the deal will happen, but the question we don’t know is how many people will be taken by the U.S.,” Behrouz Boochani, an Iranian refugee held on PNG’s Manus Island for nearly four years, told Reuters.
With mounting international pressure, officials at Manus Island center are increasing pressure onasylum seekers to return to their home countries voluntarily, including offering large sums of money.
