NBCNews:

Vice President Mike Pence said on Saturday the United States would honor a controversial refugee deal with Australia which means 1,250 asylum seekers will be rehomed in America — 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 honoring it "doesn't mean that we admire the agreement".

"We will honor this agreement out of respect to this enormously important alliance," Pence said at Turnbull's harbor side official residence in Sydney.

Under the deal, agreed with former President Barack Obama late last year, the U.S. would resettle up to 1,250 asylum seekers (mainly from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran and Iraq) held in offshore processing camps on South Pacific islands in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

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