WASHINGTON (AP) – The Homeland Security Department is continuing to review cases of would-be refugees held on a Pacific island by the Australian government, despite new confusion over the fate of an Obama-era agreement.
Gillian Christensen, a DHS spokeswoman, said Thursday the process to screen people being held on Nauru is ongoing. Earlier in the day Australia’s immigration minister said that processing had been halted.
Christensen said refugee applicants “will be interviewed and undergo security vetting consistent with the law, including any executive orders and court orders.”
President Donald Trump suspended the U.S. refugee program with an executive order that also banned immigration and travel from seven majority-Muslim countries. A federal judge in Washington state temporarily blocked the executive order last week. The government is appealing the case, but the order remains on hold for now and previously approved refugees have been arriving in the United States.
Trump has called the U.S.-Australian refugee agreement “dumb.”