It's hard to imagine how the US-Australia refugee deal could have been handled worse

Refugees arrive in the United States with barely the clothes on their back and many say they feel abandoned

• Interactive timeline: what happened to every person caught up in Australia's offshore processing regime
• Revealed: 1,500 people in limbo under Australia's bizarre and cruel' refugee deterrence policy

Four years ago then Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull struck a deal with then US president Barack Obama to transfer up to 1,250 of Australia's unwanted refugees to the United States.

The deal outlives both men's leadership.