News outlet Politico reported that two Rwandan men accused of mass murder and detained by the US were granted humanitarian visas by Australia as part of the federal government’s resettlement deal with the US. Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed the men were in Australia but said they had been screened by security agencies.
A Tamil family detained by immigration authorities in March last year lost their final appeal for asylum and will likely be deported to Sri Lanka. The family are at the centre of a grassroots campaign driven by their local community in Biloela, central Queensland. Labor leader Bill Shorten vowed to reopen the case if he wins the federal election.
The Chinese-Australian community paid tribute to former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, who passed away on Thursday, for his decision to offer asylum to thousands of Chinese students and their families in the wake of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.
Six former Afghani soldiers who sought asylum in Australia after last October's Invictus Games in Sydney were granted permanent protection visas.
The UNHCR said at least 65 people drowned when their boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the Tunisian coast. It was one the deadliest shipwrecks involving migrants trying to reach Europe this year.