Kris Kobach, the man favoured to fill Donald Trump's Homeland Security slot, reveals immigration plan to press

An apparent bungle by US president-elect Donald Trump's hardline immigration adviser shows just how difficult Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's US refugee re-settlement plan will likely be to pull off.

Kris Kobach, tipped to head the US Department of Homeland Security in the Trump administration, was clutching documents as he stood with a smiling and waving Trump on Sunday (US time) in view of the media.

A photo taken by Associated Press, when zoomed in, shows the top page of the document is headlined "Department of Homeland Security. Kobach Strategic Plan for First 365 Days".

Kobach, arriving to meet Trump, shakes hands with investor Wilbur Ross, who just left a meeting with the president-elect. Photo / AP

It lists aggressive proposals aimed at "high-risk aliens".

"Reduce intake of Syrian refugees to zero, using authority under the 1980 Refugee Act," Kobach's plan states.

The plan also calls for "extreme vetting questions for high-risk aliens: question them regarding support for Sharia Law, jihad, equality of men and women, the United States Constitution".

Kobach was one of many potential Trump administration hires who met with the president-elect at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey on the weekend.

Turnbull announced last week his "one-off" arrangement with the US to resettle refugees who are languishing in Australia's processing centres on Nauru and Manus Island.

Many of the asylum seekers are Muslims who have fled Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan - nations Trump has described during his election campaign as dangerous sources for immigrants.

US President Barack Obama agreed to the deal with Australia, but Trump's surprise victory over Hillary Clinton in this month's presidential election raised the prospect of it being scuttled.

Trump moves into the White House on January 20 and it appears unlikely the refugees will be vetted and moved to the US before then.

Kobach is a controversial figure in the US.

The conservative secretary of state for Kansas played a significant role in writing Arizona's infamous anti-illegal immigration law, SB 1070, which imposed strict regulations on aliens and was designed to root out illegals.

- AAP