Source : NEW INDIAN EXPRESS NEWS
Efforts to get white South Africans to the US
Since Trump’s executive order, the US Embassy in Pretoria has been conducting interviews, “prioritizing consideration for US refugee resettlement of Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination,” the State Department said.
The department said nothing about the imminent arrival of what officials said are believed to be more than two dozen white South Africans from roughly four families who applied for resettlement in the US Their arrival had originally been scheduled for early last week but was delayed for reasons that were not immediately clear.
The HHS Office for Refugee Resettlement was ready to offer them support, including with housing, furniture and other household items, and expenses like groceries, clothing, diapers and more, the document says. “This effort is a stated priority of the Administration.”
HHS didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.
Supporters of the refugee program questioned why the Trump administration was moving so quickly to resettle white South Africans while halting the wider refugee program, which brings people to the US who are displaced by war, natural disaster or persecution and involves significant vetting in a process that often takes years.
“We are concerned that the US Government has chosen to fast-track the admission of Afrikaners, while actively fighting court orders to provide life-saving resettlement to other refugee populations who are in desperate need,” Church World Services president Rick Santos said in a statement. His group has been assisting refugees for more than 70 years.
Letting in white South Africans while keeping out Afghans is “hypocrisy,” said Shawn VanDiver, who heads #AfghanEvac, which helps resettle Afghans who assisted the US during the two-decade war.
“Afghans who served alongside US forces, who taught girls, who fought for democracy, and who now face Taliban reprisals, meet every definition of a refugee,” he said. “Afghans risked their lives for us. That should matter,” he said.
Trump administration has accused South Africa of anti-white policies
The Trump administration alleges the South African government has allowed minority white Afrikaner farmers to be persecuted and attacked, while introducing an expropriation law designed to take away their land.
SOURCE :- NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
