Key Factors
- The Trump administration issued an order on 20 January to droop the US Refugee Admissions Program.
- In 2016, the USA agreed to resettle as much as 1,250 refugees from PNG and Nauru processing centres.
- The freeze on the refugee program has additionally impacted asylum seekers who arrived in Australia by boat.
Mohammad Mehdipour remembers the second he first set foot on American soil, abandoning 12 years of limbo he describes as a “inexperienced hell”.
“After I exited the airport and took a breath, the vapour that escaped me made me really feel at residence. My lungs have been full of the cool air … It was like a way of freedom was accompanying it,” Mehdipour recollects.
“I used to be not dreaming that the nightmare was over … I used to be free from Indonesia’s inexperienced hell.”
The Iranian man was a part of a gaggle of 14,000 refugees and asylum seekers in Indonesia ready to be resettled in international locations like Australia.
Mehdi Mehdipour describes his refugee camp in Indonesia as a “inexperienced hell”. Credit score: Equipped
Many of those refugees travelled to Indonesia in 2013 intending to succeed in Australia however, with the beginning of, discovered themselves stranded in refugee camps within the neighbouring nation.
When, in 2014, the , Mehdipour and others needed to discover one other nation to name residence.
‘Does God not like us?’
Most of the refugees have endured hardship within the course of.
Reza* remembers with combined feelings the second a automobile arrived on the camp to take Mehdipour to the airport.
“Clearly, whenever you see your folks are leaving [Indonesia], you are feeling completely satisfied for them … However then, you are feeling dangerous whenever you assume you aren’t going with them,” he says.
Households solely watch these leaving and cry.
Reza, a refugee stranded in Indonesia
He and his household left Iran in 2013 and went to Indonesia in an try to hunt asylum in Australia. His boat by no means reached the shores of Australia, and he began his life in a refugee camp in North Sumatra.
“There was plenty of stress from the Iranian regime on us, it was solely as a result of we wished freedom that we took the chance,” he says.
“We solely demand the liberty to reside.”
He tried to pursue resettlement in different international locations by the UNHCR after they have been rejected to come back to Australia.
After 12 years, he acquired a name in early 2025 telling him to be ready for a flight in February.
However the excellent news was short-lived because the Trump administration issued an order on 20 January to droop the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP).
Shortly after that, Reza was instructed that his flight was cancelled.
“Once we heard concerning the Trump order, a useless silence fell over our life. They confirmed us freedom, and as quickly as we wished to style it, they took it away from us,” he says.
“My child requested me, ‘does God not like us?'”
‘Australia has already performed that’
The Trump administration’s freeze on the refugee program has impacted asylum seekers who arrived in Australia by boat over a decade in the past and have been ready to be resettled within the US.
In accordance with the Division of House Affairs, “lower than 30 transitory people proceed to pursue resettlement in the USA (US) by the US resettlement association”.
“The Division awaits additional recommendation from the US Authorities relating to its ongoing operation of the USRAP and is hopeful that processing will resume for instances within the US resettlement association,” a House Affairs spokesperson says.
In 2016, the USA agreed to resettle as much as 1,250 refugees from Papua New Guinea and Nauru processing centres.
The refugees had beforehand tried to succeed in Australia by boat however have been intercepted and despatched to Australian-led centres.
Jana Favero, Deputy CEO on the Asylum Seeker Useful resource Centre, says the Australian authorities “ought to be, on the strongest phrases, urging the Trump authorities to reinstate their refugee program and to proceed to resettle refugees”.
“We have got world displacement at report ranges, and we will not have one of many wealthiest international locations on the earth flip its again on refugees,” she explains.
In 2016, the USA agreed to resettle as much as 1250 refugees from Papua New Guinea and Nauru processing centres. Supply: AP, AAP / AP
“What Trump is doing by placing a ban on or stopping refugees coming from sure international locations, Australia (already did) that in 2014.
“In case you are not providing secure passage to individuals, they are going to do no matter they will to get someplace secure, which incorporates placing their lives in danger.”
‘Experiencing a sluggish loss of life’
Nikki* is one other refugee in Indonesia who was turned away by Australia over a decade in the past and has now been rejected by the Trump administration.
He left Iran in 2013 to practise his spiritual beliefs freely.
“I solely wished to go away. I did not care about dwelling in Europe or Australia. (I) Simply wished to avoid wasting my life and run away,” he explains.
Nikki went to Indonesia intending to succeed in Australia by boat, however he was intercepted earlier than departing the nation.
“I imagined it could be the tip of all of the disappointment, however (as an alternative) it was the start of all of the difficulties,” he says.
“I bear in mind considering in 48 hours, I’d be someplace on this Earth the place I might practise my faith freely. However these have been truly essentially the most horrifying hours I’ve skilled.”
Since then, he has lived for 12 years in one in every of Indonesia’s 13 refugee camps in North Sumatra.
As Indonesia will not be a celebration to the , asylum seekers and refugees aren’t allowed to work, are ineligible for social advantages from the federal government and can’t stay long-term in Indonesia.
Residing in limbo presents day by day points.
“Every single day, we’re ready for an replace, 13 years of ready. We’re experiencing a sluggish loss of life,” Nikki says.
“Now we have misplaced our years, we face well being points, and we face hundreds of challenges day-after-day.”
In accordance with a report by UNSW’s Kaldor Centre for Worldwide Refugee Regulation, for these refugees “there isn’t a clear strategy to go away. Returning to the nation of origin is unattainable; (the possibility of) third-country resettlement is distant; and surviving in Indonesia may be very tough”.
“The situations are actually, actually dire for the 14,000 refugees who’re ready in Indonesia, which is what makes [Australia’s] choices to cease resettling refugees from Indonesia much more merciless,” Favero says.
“Australia has a extremely vital function in our area to offer security to refugees in order that they will rebuild their lives.
“One of many first steps needs to be by lifting the ban on resettling refugees from Indonesia.”
Leaving Indonesia simply earlier than the US coverage change, Mehdipour nonetheless “cannot get pleasure from” his new life within the US.
“Deep down, I don’t really feel proper,” he says.
“I really feel responsible. Whereas I am strolling within the snow right here, a few of my mates who had the correct to resettle are interested by tips on how to repair their air conditioner in that scorching climate.”
*Title withheld to guard identification
