Australia's migrant policy offers lessons for EU and US.

There is a particular kind of caution that comes from experience—the recognition that a path once walked leaves marks that cannot be erased. For more than two decades, Australia has sent asylum seekers who arrive by boat to offshore processing centers on Nauru and Manus Island, a policy designed as a deterrent and defended as a necessity. Now, as the European Union and the United States consider similar arrangements, Australia's record offers a cautionary tale.

The Pacific Solution was introduced in 2001 by then-Prime Minister John Howard, who declared, "We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come" . The policy was phased out in 2008, then revived in 2012 under Julia Gillard after a series of deaths at sea . At its peak between 2013 and 2014, more than 3,000 people were transferred offshore .

The costs have been measured in more than money. Journalists were largely barred from the centers, and the lack of independent oversight meant many Australians accepted the narrative that the policy was working . A group of asylum seekers formerly detained on Manus Island reached an AU$70 million settlement in 2017 after filing charges for abuse and unlawful detention . In February, an Australian Senate inquiry heard firsthand accounts of neglect, untreated health conditions, and serious concerns for the safety of camp inhabitants—especially women on Nauru .

The European Union is now considering "return hubs" outside its borders, with Rwanda, Uzbekistan, and Uganda reportedly under consideration. The European Parliament approved rules in June that would pave the way for such arrangements, with deportations potentially beginning as soon as 2027. Denmark's immigration minister described the hubs not as camps but as "a new chance to have a life in a partner country" .

The United States has already made third-country deals with at least 30 countries in Africa and Latin America, some of which remain secret. The Supreme Court ruled last month that the Trump administration could resume deportations under the scheme, including of foreign nationals not accused of any crime .

Graham Thom of the Refugee Council of Australia described offshore processing as a "medieval idea" . The lessons for the EU and US, he suggests, are not about whether the policy works as a deterrent, but about what it costs to the people caught within it—and to the nations that choose to look away.

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Sources: InfoMigrants, Times of Oman, Refugee Council of Australia, European Parliament