When US Congressional staffers probed the number of individuals being considered for resettlement, they were told it was “classified,” even though refugee admissions are traditionally public. Officials, however, did confirm countries of origin to be Iran, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq and Sudan, as well as some deemed “stateless.”
The US State Department has classified details on refugees to be resettled in America via a secret deal made with Australia. The deal involves 2 465 people currently being held in Papua New Guinea and Nauru detention centres to be transferred onto US soil.
Department of Homeland security Secretary Jeh Johnson was mum when lawmakers asked about the refugees.
Iran, Sudan and Syria are the three countries on the US current State Sponsors of Terrorism list, but the “stateless” category is most worrisome.
“This is a backroom deal, wheeling and dealing with another country’s refugee problem,” Center for Immigration Studies fellow Don Barnett told FoxNews.com. “I don’t believe for a moment it’s a one-time deal. That’s for public consumption.”
According to FoxNews.com the move has also raised a red flag with Congressional oversight members.
In a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Secretary of State John Kerry, key lawmakers complained about the secrecy. “This situation is concerning for many reasons,” read the letter, charging that “your departments negotiated an international agreement regarding refugees without consulting or notifying Congress.”
US Customs and Immigration Services will visit the Pacific Island nations next month to begin vetting the refugees.
The refugees could include Burmese Muslims, who have posed assimilation issues for every nation which has taken them. “It’s a dangerous precedent which says, ‘We’ll take any ethnic group with which you don’t get along,’” one staffer said.
Australia pays poor surrounding island nations to house detention centers for refugees in an effort to curtail people smuggling. But they have been vetted and deemed inadmissible, by the Australians.
Questions are now being asked as to why they would be deemed as admissable refugees by the US.
Representatives from the US oversight committee are set to receive a classified briefing on the Australian refugee deal next week. However, numerous questions could remain shielded from public view including costs, timing, benefit to the US. and perhaps most importantly why it was done in secret.
