US officials stop vetting Nauru refugees for resettlement

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — U.S. officials stopped screening refugees held on Nauru for potential resettlement in the United States this week but will return to the Pacific atoll to continue working toward a deal that President Donald Trump has condemned as "dumb," an Australian minister said Thursday.

Trump made enhanced screening a condition for agreeing to honor an Obama administration deal to accept up to 1,250 refugees refused entry into Australia.

Dutton later denied in an interview with Sky News that the screening process was on hold, saying his staffers were working with homeland security officials in Washington to assess each of the refugees' cases.

Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said most of the refugees on Nauru who had been accepted by the United States as candidates for resettlement had initial interviews with U.S. officials in what they had been told was a two-step process.

There could also be refugees among the 370 asylum seekers who came to Australia for medical treatment then took court action to prevent their return to the island camps.