OCTOBER 17, 2016: The Austrailian immigration department devised a proposal for Australia to take refugees from Central America as part of a U.S.-led program.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull made the announcement during a speech to President Barack Obama’s invitation-only, high-level summit on refugees and migration in New York in September during the United Nations General Assembly.

Australian immigration department officials told a Senate estimates hearing on Monday that “small numbers” of refugees would be resettled. No date had been set for arrivals so far.

The refugees are living at a center in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica will provide refuge for 100 Central Americans from violence-torn El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras under a pioneering initiative of the U.S. State Department to use third countries for asylum while they process refugee cases.

Discussions between Australia and the U.S. have spanned all year.

Officials later revealed they were alerted to the opportunity of taking Central American refugees from a U.S. government press release.

Australian officials declined to say whether Australia had discussed the prospects of a people swap of refugees and asylum seekers on Manus Island or Nauru in exchange for taking Central American refugees.  //Australian Associated Press