Australia Rejected 2,500 Refugees from 'Terrorism Hotspots.' Guess Where They're Headed Instead.

The recent attack at Ohio State University has reignited concerns about America's role in accepting refugees, in particular, those who may be on the path to radicalization.

It's also heightened skepticism surrounding a highly unusual deal that's been struck between the U.S. and Australia, one that will see an unspecified number of the roughly 2,500 refugees — who are currently being held in offshore detention facilities in Nauru and Papua New Guinea — come to America “after being rejected by Australia.”

Of particular note, as Fox Business reports, is that not only does this number include refugees from “terrorism hotspots,” but that the State Department has refused to release the details of this “backroom deal” — the creation of seems to have been kept secret even from members of Congress.

In a blunt letter addressed to Secretary of State John Kerry and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) condemn the situation as “concerning for many reasons,” foremost that:

“...your departments negotiated an international agreement regarding refugees without consulting or notifying Congress.”

Noting that Congress only learned of this deal “through the media,” the two legislators say that even they have been unable to learn how many of the 2,465 refugees will be transferred to the U.S.

They did learn, however, that the majority of these individuals will be coming from Iran, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, and Sudan — as well as one group referred to as “stateless.”

Iran, Sudan, and Syria are all currently classified by the U.S. as state sponsors of terrorism.

Grassley and Goodlatte go on to note that, while they've since been presented with an opportunity to receive “a classified briefing on the deal,” such a lack of transparency simply wouldn't cut it:

"...we also firmly believe that the American people should be fully aware of the specific details of this agreement and why it was done in secret.

We ask that you immediately make the agreement available to members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and we ask for your cooperation to better understanding every aspect of this resettlement agreement."

While it's been described as one-time deal by Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Don Barnett of the Center for Immigration Studies notes that it sets a worrisome precedent:

“It’s a dangerous precedent which says, ‘We’ll take any ethnic group with which you don’t get along.’”

That the specifics of the deal remain classified, Barnett added, “has the potential for making the story much worse than perhaps it really is.”

Nonetheless, the fact that so much of this international agreement remains concealed — even from members of the American government — seems troubling enough in and of itself.