Threatening to send over 10,000, so far managing just 40 The Immigration Minister ramps up the rhetoric, despite sending over just 40 of the 1600 boat people who have so far come since the PNG deal was done: KEVIN Rudd will warn people smugglers he stands ready to create an island from hell in Papua New Guinea housing 10,000 asylum seekers... Confirming a dramatic expansion of PNG facilities was possible, Immigration Minister Tony Burke said one site alone [on Manus Island] had the capacity to hold "10,000" asylum seekers in a tent city. Remember how Labor once damned John Howard as brutal? Papua New Guinea's most thuggish paramilitary police unit - allegedly responsible for rapes, murders and other human rights abuses - is being discreetly funded by the Australian Immigration Department to secure the Manus Island asylum seeker detention centre. Officers of the "Mobile Squad," who just last month beat a local man to death on the island, are receiving a special living away allowance of about $100 a day out of funding provided by the department. The Australian funding is a handsome perk for members of the squad. The average local wage for security staff is about $1.50 an hour.