Ethiopian refugee Betelhem Tebubu has been living in Australia legally for four years but every six months she is forced to briefly revisit her experiences in immigration detention. The 28-year-old dreads the twice-yearly calls she gets from immigration officials, who remind her of the limitations of her bridging visa. The experiences of Ms Tebubu gives an idea of what the future looks like for the almost 60 recently-released asylum seekers and refugees. Sri Lankan Tamil refugee Thanush Selvarasa was one of at least 12 men released from Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation, known as MITA, last month after spending six years on Manus Island. Meanwhile, the government has so far declined to accept an offer from New Zealand to resettle 150 asylum seekers from offshore detention.

Source: Ethiopian News February 09, 2021 01:30 UTC