There’s been a let of hemming and hawing about what Trump‘s immigration ban will mean for Australians – namely those who hold dual citizenship with one of the seven nationalities barred from entry into the United States. The confusion was enhanced today with the revelation that a 15-year-old student was denied a visa for a school camp – allegedly due to his parents’ Iranian origins.
We have received confirmation from the White House this morning that Australian passport holders will be able to travel to and from the United States in the normal way. They won’t be affected by the recent executive order regardless of whether they are dual citizens of another country or where they were born.
This comes after Turnbull received a glut of criticism for his remarkably amiable (read: massively cowardly) approach to Trump’s ban of travellers from seven Muslim-majority nations. Whereas many world leaders offered at least mild criticism of the move, Turnbull opted for a far milder approach, saying Australia’s border policies were the “envy of the world”.
It is not my job as Prime Minister of Australia to run a commentary on the domestic policies of other countries. We’ve got very strong systems — that is a fact. We’re proud of those and we’ll maintain them and where we can, we will enhance them.
Turnbull has denied claims that he is not criticising Trump as a means of maintaining the refugee resettlement deal forged between his government and the Obama administration, which is remarkably still on despite recent moves from Trump.
