A refugee being held in offshore detention felt like a product who could be "traded for anything" after reading a conversation between Malcolm Turnbull and Donald Trump.
Imran Mohammad, who has been on Manus Island for almost four years, broke down in tears after viewing a leaked transcript of the two leaders discussing a people-swap deal in January.
"I am just a human being and there is no need to play with my life," he said in a statement released by the Human Rights Law Centre.
"All I need is a sense of belonging to a safe country so that I can live a life that every human deserves."
Tensions are high on Manus Island, with water and electricity cut off to compounds at the regional processing centre, as authorities try to shuffle detainees around ahead of its October closure.
During the heated January 28 phone call, revealed in full by the Washington Post on Friday, Mr Turnbull corralled the new president into endorsing the refugee deal.
The prime minister assured Mr Trump the United States was not obliged to accept a single refugee, needing only to process those held in detention to honour the bargain.
Mr Turnbull admitted Australia would rather take some of America's most "unattractive guys" rather than a Nobel Peace Prize winner who came by boat.
The president praised Mr Turnbull for being "worse than I am" on rejecting refugees, but bemoaned the agreement.
Mr Trump described the agreement as "a horrible deal, a disgusting deal" which would make him look like a "dope" and a weak and ineffective leader.
The agreement, struck with the Obama administration, involved the US accepting up to 1250 refugees held on Manus Island and Nauru, in return for Australia taking asylum seekers from Central America.
More than 1600 refugees have expressed interest in the US resettlement deal, which is expected to offer about 1200 places.
