SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
By Teo Armus and Emily Wax-Thibodeaux
Washington: A group of about 50 white South Africans arrived in the US as refugees, a humanitarian designation meant for people fleeing war or persecution that the Trump administration has suspended for all other groups worldwide.
US President Donald Trump has said the Afrikaners – a minority group descended from Dutch settlers in South Africa – are facing racial discrimination due to a land redistribution law in that country that seeks to correct an imbalance in property ownership stemming from four decades of apartheid rule. No land seizures have been carried out under that law.
But Trump claimed on Monday, Washington time, that a genocide was taking place in South Africa, an allegation government officials there say lacks any evidence.
“Farmers are being killed,” the president said at a news conference. “They happen to be white. Whether they’re white or black, makes no difference to me. But white farmers are being brutally killed, and their land is being confiscated in South Africa.”
South African officials have called the effort to cast the Afrikaner families as refugees a “politically motivated” ploy “designed to question South Africa’s constitutional democracy”.
The South African land redistribution law, which was signed in January, allows for property to be taken without compensation in some situations, subject to review by a judge.
Afrikaner refugees from South Africa after they arrived in the US.Credit: AP
South African officials have framed the law, the Expropriation Act, as an effort to correct the wrongs of four decades of segregationist apartheid rule, sowing deep racial divisions in the country.
White people in South Africa, who comprise about 7 per cent of the country’s population, own about three-quarters of individually owned farms and agricultural holdings, according to a South African government land audit.
“They can’t provide any proof of any persecution because there’s not any,” Ronald Lamola, the country’s international relations and cooperation minister said in Pretoria, South Africa’s administrative capital. “There is not any form of persecution to white South Africans.”
The group of mostly Afrikaner families landed at Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia on Monday afternoon. From there, they were set to board connecting flights to 10 states, where they will be resettled by local refugee organisations, according to three government officials familiar with the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to share details of the preparations.
The Afrikaner refugees arrived at Dulles International Airport.Credit: AP
As they disembarked, some of the adults held babies and toddlers. Many waved small American flags that were given to them upon their arrival. Red, white and blue balloons decorated the walls of a plane hangar where a news conference was to be held.
“Welcome to the United States of America. This is the land of the free,” deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau told the group, some looking bleary-eyed while others smiled.
“Many of us have families that had a journey not that different than the journey that you are embarking on today. My father left from Europe – he had to leave his country when Hitler came in during the 1930s.
“I want you all to know that you are really welcome here and that we respect what you have had to deal with these last few years. We respect the long tradition of your people and what you have accomplished over the last few years.”
Deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau (right) greets the Afrikaner refugees.Credit: AP
Refugees are a distinct class of people who have been forced to flee their home country after they have been persecuted or fear persecution – usually death – because of their race, religion, nationality, politics or membership in a particular social group.
They must go through strict vetting by US officials and often wait years before being allowed to enter the country, where they are eligible for government services and a path to citizenship. No South Africans were resettled in the US as refugees in fiscal 2024, according to government data.
Though refugees coming into the US are typically vetted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which routinely refers people fleeing persecution and violence in their home countries to safer countries such as the US, the South African group did not go through such screening.
A State Department memo obtained by The Washington Post said that most of the arriving Afrikaners had “witnessed or experienced extreme violence with a racial nexus,” including home invasions, murders or carjackings that took place up to 25 years ago.
Many of the refugees held American flags that were given to them upon their arrivalCredit: AP
“Many have also said that they do not trust the police, citing that law enforcement has not adequately investigated crimes against Afrikaners,” the memo said.
During a news conference after the group’s arrival, Landau reiterated those claims, saying that some members of the group shared “harrowing stories of the violence that they faced in South Africa”.
By resettling them as refugees, Landau said, “We’re sending a clear message that the United States really rejects the egregious persecution on the basis of race in South Africa.”
Neither Landau nor any of the arriving Afrikaners shared specific details of persecution.
Advocates for other refugees seeking safe harbour in the US expressed outrage over the effort after the Trump administration suspended all refugee admissions to the US on Inauguration Day. Later that week, it slashed funding for resettlement groups that help refugees find jobs and housing across the country.
A January 20 executive order signed by Trump said the country “lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees”.
Shawn VanDiver, president of nonprofit #AfghanEvac said the preference given to white South Africans creates the appearance that the US government can’t be trusted when it promises a secure life to those who have risked their lives for the country during times of war.
VanDiver’s group works to help Afghans who worked for the US as translators, drivers and in other roles during the war and fear Taliban retribution, gain entry into the country.
“It’s a threat to our national security abroad,” he said of the Trump administration’s effort. “This contrast isn’t just political theatre – it’s a fundamental question of whether US refugee policy is rooted in principle or in politics. The hypocrisy is as clear as it is cruel.”
VanDiver said 1200 Afghans – including more than 200 family members of US service members – were waiting at a facility in Qatar to be let into the US. On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security said that it would end temporary protected status for Afghans.
Maria Corina Vegas, a longtime Venezuelan American advocate and member of the Miami-Dade Democratic Hispanic caucus, called the preference given to Afrikaners “an offence to any immigrant who has tried to come to make it legally to the US”.
“There is a really clear agenda here that is counter to the fundamental principles on which America was founded and stood for and once admired [for] around the world,” Vegas said.
Murithi Mutiga, Africa program director for the International Crisis Group, said South Africa’s African National Congress government was widely admired for its efforts to wipe out the legacy of apartheid.
“Very few policies, apart from the USAID cuts, have attracted as much astonishment and revulsion as this policy, which appears to be racially motivated,” Mutiga said.
Refugee resettlement groups and some of their clients have filed a lawsuit over the suspension of the refugee admissions program.
Thea Van Straten, one of the Afrikaners, looked exhausted as she loaded her bags on to a cart at a United Airlines check-in desk.
She said she had been advised not to talk much about her situation and didn’t know where she was headed, though a sticker on her luggage indicated it was going to Raleigh, North Carolina.
“We’re tired,” Van Straten said. “It’s been a very emotional, very rough couple of weeks.”
Washington Post
