One main difficulty with the Pacific Solution is that it entailed seducing Mekere Mourata (the Prime Minister of PNG at the time) and the PNG government into abrogating their own Constitution to take the refugees onto Manus Island. There is no doubt that the refugees were incarcerated but the PNG Constitution prohibits incaceration unless the prisoner has been convicted in a court of law for a breach of a written law. This clearly was not the case with the refugees but $20 million can buy a lot of blind eye turning in a poor third world country that is struggling with a budget deficit.