During a phone call with Australian prime minister last week, Trump bashed a very bad deal which was made between USA and Australia to save refugees who are held at offshore detention centers in the region of Oceania, as suggested by reports from CNN and The Washington Post. It was supposed to be a friendly call between the allies and supposed to last an hour, but it soon went south within a matter of 25 minutes.
The agreement was reportedly blasted by Trump, who accused Australia of seeking to export the next bombers of Boston and also bragged about his Electoral College victory, among other things, before finally hanging up on Malcolm Turnbull, the Australian Prime Minister.
He also told Turnbull that he has spoken with four other world leaders on the same day and according to him, it was the worst call so far, as reported by The Washington Post, who first acquired the story. A spokesman for White House declined to comment on The Post. According to Turnbull, his relationship with the United States continues to remain strong, but he refused to comment on the particular story.
In November, Turnbull and the Obama administration agreed that the United States would take in 1250 refugees who are held in detention. The AP reports that the deal included 1300 people who are held in island nations of Papua New Guinea and Nauru along with 370 people who went to Australia for medical treatment and refused to return to the islands.
After 19th July 2013, Australia refused to take any refugee who arrived on a boat. Instead, they were held at various offshore centers of detention while Australia searched for countries who are willing to resettle them. Refugees have received offers to go to Papua New Guinea and Cambodia, but many have declined in hopes that Australia will finally take them in. Under Trump administration, US made an opposite turn regarding Obama’s pledge to help the refugees.
The executive order signed by him on Friday suspends the entire US refugee program for 120 days and also orders the State departments and Homeland Security to work with CIA and FBI on enhanced vetting of those who are seeking refugee status. Trump tweeted about the refugee agreement hours after Post broke the story regarding the call.
He questioned can people believe it that the Obama Administration decided to take in thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia but for what reason. He said that he would be studying that ‘dumb’ deal.
Meanwhile, Spicer says that Trump has agreed to honor the Obama administration deal to resettle up to 1250 people who are seeking asylum in Australia. The agreement was made during a conversation with Turnbull last weekend, but he has since tweeted about the dumb deal and how he will study it.
Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister ruled out any deal to get the US to honor an agreement to resettle hundreds of Muslim refugees that has been described as ‘dumb’ by President Donald Trump.
He also dismissed Nine Network Television Network’s journalist suggesting that he should also be offended about Sean Spicer, the White House spokesman who has repeatedly been calling him Trumbull during press briefings.
According to Turnbull, the important things are the results. According to Spicer, Trump has agreed to honor the deal made by the Obama administration about resettling 1250 asylum seekers that have been rejected by Australia.