Officials at an Australian immigration center in Papua New Guinea are increasing pressure on asylum seekers to return to their home countries voluntarily, including offering large sums of money, amid fear that a deal for the United States to take refugees has fallen through.
About a dozen Bangladeshi and Nepalese asylum seekers on Manus Island said they are being called to meet with Australian officials and pressured to take amounts of up to $25,000 to return to their countries or face deportation.
The men, who have been ruled ineligible for refugee status by Papua New Guinea, said officials are also acting with urgency on deportation notices filed weeks or months ago. At least one Nepalese man was removed from his accommodation in the middle of the night last week, they said.