The Obama administration is moving forward with unilateral plans to resettle in the United States hundreds of migrants Australia has refused to admit, according to House and Senate Judiciary Committees leaders.
This month, officials from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration briefed committee staffers on the administration’s plans. They confirmed that a State Department official has signed an agreement between the U.S. and Australia to refer refugees — currently residing in offshore detention facilities — to the U.S. for resettlement.
In a letter to top administration officials dated Tuesday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley expressed a series of concerns with the administration’s negotiations and plans.
“First, your departments negotiated an international agreement regarding refugees without consulting or notifying Congress,” The letter to Homeland Security Sec. Jeh Johnson and Secretary of State John Kerry reads. “Such information was not disclosed to Congress during the annual refugee consultation that occurred on September 13, 2016, even though your staff confirmed that the agreement had, at the time, been negotiated ‘for months.’”
According to Grassley and Goodlatte, the administration so far has also refused to say how many refugees, rejected by Australia, will be admitted to the U.S. The government says that information is “classified.” Media reports indicate that some 1,800 refugees could be transferred to the U.S.
The administration, however, has confirmed to Goodlatte and Grassley’s staffs, that the 2,465 individuals detained and under consideration for resettlement are mostly from: Iran, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Sudan, or they are stateless.
Of particular concern to the Iowa and Virginia lawmakers is the fact that “the individuals who will be resettled are coming from countries of national security concern,” and the State Department has designated both Iran and Sudan as “State Sponsors of Terrorism.”
“Finally, it begs the question why Australia and other countries refuse to admit these individuals, what other countries are doing to help alleviate the situation, what kind of precedent this sets for future refugees interdicted at sea by Australian forces and prevented from entering Australia, and how a similar situation will be prevented in the future,” the letter reads.
The election of Donald Trump has had some speculating that such transfers will end when President Obama leaves office. Trump has yet to comment on the agreement.