politics
US Admits Over 7,700 White South African Refugees While Halting Most Other Refugee Entries
President Donald Trump announced that nearly all refugees admitted to the United States would be White South Africans. Eighteen months later more than 7,700 Afrikaners have arrived while the program has been largely shuttered for other populations. The effort produced diplomatic tensions, a chartered flight and revised admission ceilings.
Jul 13, 5:00 AM·2m read1 source
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President Donald Trump announced that nearly all refugees admitted to the United States would be White South Africans. Eighteen months later the United States has admitted more than 7,700 Afrikaners while the refugee program has been largely shuttered for the rest of the world.
Cnn reported that officials defined eligibility as South African nationality, Afrikaner ethnicity or membership in a racial minority in South Africa.
The overwhelming majority of those admitted are White South Africans. Denial rates for Afrikaner applicants are hovering in the teens, higher than the single-digit percentages typical for other refugee populations. Homeland Security officials scrambled to find materials to substantiate claims that White South Africans faced persecution.
Some Afrikaner families renegotiated departure dates to sell land, make arrangements or wait for children to graduate. USCIS makes all decisions on U.S. Refugee Admissions Program applications on a case-by-case basis.
Late last year the South African government briefly held then released two US government employees on assignment in South Africa. US officials moved operations to a diplomatic site with temporary structures for processing. The Trump administration held a welcome event at a DC-area airport last May for new Afrikaner arrivals attended by the US Deputy Secretary of State.
The government chartered a plane to bring the inaugural group of Afrikaners to the US with 59 people on board. Former officials stated there was immense pressure to fill the charter flight including discussions about potentially waiving medical exams. Career officials raised concerns about using taxpayer money to charter the flight.
