President Donald Trump on Monday defended his decision to take in dozens of white South Africans who were granted refugee status as his administration limits refugee admissions for the rest of the world.
A group of 49 Afrikaners claiming to face discrimination and economic hardship in their home country arrived in the U.S. on Monday morning after being awarded an expedited pathway into the country by the Trump administration under a new program established earlier this year. But the move has raised concerns among refugee groups as Trump has effectively blocked refugee admissions for people fleeing violence and famine from countries like Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Afghanistan.
Controversy Surrounding the Decision
When pressed on why the white Afrikaners were granted refugee status over other communities, Trump said that the move has nothing to do with the group’s race.
“It is a genocide that is taking place that you people don’t want to write about,” Trump said to reporters during a press briefing for the signing of his executive order to lower pharmaceutical prices Monday. “It’s a terrible thing that’s taking place, and farmers are being killed. They happen to be white, but whether they are white or Black makes no difference to me.”
Trump also said that while he’s expected to meet with South African leadership next week, he doesn’t know if he can attend “unless that situation is taken care of,” seemingly referring to Afrikaners’ claims of ongoing discrimination.
Political and Social Implications
The Afrikaners being granted refugee status represent a white ethnic minority within South Africa that previously pioneered a brutal apartheid regime in the country. The Trump administration has accused the current South African government of pushing racist, anti-white policies through affirmative action laws and a recently passed land expropriation law that Trump claims allows for the wrongful seizure of Afrikaners’ land.
Chrispin Phiri, a spokesperson for South Africa’s Foreign Ministry, called the administration’s allegations “unfounded” in a statement released last week, saying they “do not meet the threshold of persecution required under domestic and international refugee law.”
Criticism and Response
The White House did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment regarding a response to Phiri’s statement.
Refugee groups have criticized what they view as the Trump administration prioritizing South Africans over people seeking refuge from war-torn countries, as vetting refugees in the U.S. has historically taken years.
The group is being resettled through a program launched by an executive order Trump signed in February allowing for “the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation.”
Program Criteria and Eligibility
Individuals eligible for the program “must be of South African nationality, must be of Afrikaner ethnicity or be a member of a racial minority in South Africa, and must be able to articulate a past experience of persecution or fear of future persecution,” according to the Department of State’s website.
Overall, President Trump’s decision to grant refugee status to Afrikaners has sparked debate and raised questions about the prioritization of certain groups over others in the refugee admission process.
