Sydney — US Vice President Mike Pence said on Saturday the United States would honour a controversial refugee deal with Australia, under which the United States would resettle up to 1,250 asylum seekers, a deal President Donald Trump had described as "dumb". Pence told a joint news conference with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Sydney that the deal would be subject to vetting, and that honouring it "doesn’t mean that we admire the agreement". "We will honour this agreement out of respect to this enormously important alliance," Pence said at Turnbull’s harbourside official residence in Sydney. Australia is one of Washington’s staunchest allies and has sent troops to fight alongside the US military in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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