The Trump administration plans to bring white Afrikaners from South Africa to the United States as refugees starting next week after saying they are “victims of unjust racial discrimination.”
The arrival of more than two dozen Afrikaners, likely on Monday, comes as the administration has suspended most refugee resettlement programs.
“What’s happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created,” Stephen Miller told reporters on Friday. “This is persecution based on a protected characteristic — in this case, race. This is race-based persecution.”
The South African government has approved legislation which, under some circumstances, allows for expropriation of land without compensation.
He said the first wave of refugees would be part of a “much larger-scale relocation effort.”
The Afrikaners are expected to be met by a government delegation, including the deputy Secretary of State and officials from the Department of Health and Human Services, according to documents obtained by the Associated Press.
Amid his immigration crackdown, Trump said in January the U.S. will only admit refugees who “can fully and appropriately assimilate.”
The State Department said: “The U.S. Embassy in Pretoria has been conducting interviews and processing pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order on Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa. The Department of State is prioritizing consideration for U.S. refugee resettlement of Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination.”
Afrikaners are mainly descended from early Dutch settlers in South Africa.
South Africa’s government has criticized the Trump administration’s effort, saying it doesn’t recognize the country’s history of colonialism and apartheid.
The refugees will be sent to states like Minnesota, Idaho and Alabama.
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In March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio expelled the South African ambassador in the U.S., calling him a “race-baiting” politician who hates America and President Donald Trump after he said the commander-in-chief is leading a global white supremacist movement.
Rubio also boycotted a G20 foreign ministers meeting in Johannesburg in March.
South Africa’s foreign ministry has said the accusations of racial discrimination against Afrikaners are “unfounded.”
“It is most regrettable that it appears that the resettlement of South Africans to the United States under the guise of being ‘refugees’ is entirely politically motivated and designed to question South Africa’s constitutional democracy; a country which has in fact suffered true persecution under apartheid rule and has worked tirelessly to prevent such levels of discrimination from ever occurring again,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
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The South African government said it wouldn’t block anyone from leaving the country, but questioned their status as refugees.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
