Australia assisted regional countries to stop 10 boats carrying around 300 asylum seekers from leaving in the past 14 months. The operations involve Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers gathering intelligence about planned departures and passing that information on to their counterparts in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. Local authorities then stop asylum seekers from departing by boat. Since 2013, Australian government documents obtained under freedom of information requests show 78 operations involving 2525 asylum seekers.
The Senate refused to extend the fast-track asylum procedure to 108 asylum seekers who arrived in Australia before 2014. The current fast-track procedure provides a limited review process for rejected asylum seekers that raises a risk of errors in the decision-making process.
Former United States immigration official Anne Richard said the US-Australia refugee swap included an understanding that Australia would resettle more refugees from Central America and Africa. Under the informal arrangement, the United States has agreed to resettle up to 1250 refugees from Nauru and Papua New Guinea.