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A flight carrying a group of 59 White South Africans granted refugee status by the Trump administration arrived in the United States on Monday.
They were the first people to be granted refugee status by the Trump administration and are not expected to be the last Afrikaners to come to the US. The South Africans, including children, were greeted upon their arrival at Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia by US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Troy Edgar.
The Trump administration has moved to not only admit but to expedite the processing of Afrikaners as refugees for alleged discrimination. At the same time, it has suspended all other refugee resettlement, including for people fleeing war and famine.
The policy of exempting only White South Africans from the indefinite pause has drawn criticism from the South African government and from refugee advocates.
Landau told the new arrivals that the US was “excited” to have them, adding, “We respect what you had to deal with these last few years.” He noted that many of them are farmers and likened them to “quality seeds” that would hopefully “bloom” in the US.
“We underscored for them that the American people are a welcoming and generous people, and we underscored the importance of assimilation into the United States, which is one of the very important factors that we look to in refugee admissions,” Landau told reporters after greeting the group.
Landau claimed the Afrikaners had been “subject to very serious, egregious and targeted threats” and accused the South African government of failing to act.
“The South African government has not done what we feel is appropriate to guarantee the rights of these citizens to live in peace with their fellow South Africans, which is why, under our domestic law, they were given refugee status,” Landau said.
Earlier on Monday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said that those going to the US “do not fit the definition of a refugee.”
Ramaphosa said he told Donald Trump that what the US president had been told about the persecution of the White minority group was not true.
“Those people who have fled are not being persecuted, they are not being hounded, they are not being treated badly,” he said at a panel at the Africa CEO Forum in Cote d’Ivoire moderated by CNN’s Larry Madowo.
“They are leaving ostensibly because they don’t want to embrace the changes that are taking place in our country in accordance with our constitution,” Ramaphosa said.
Asked about Ramaphosa’s comments, Landau said, “It is not surprising, unfortunately, that a country from which refugees come does not concede that they are refugees.”
A flight carrying a group of 59 White South Africans granted refugee status by the Trump administration arrived in the United States on Monday.
They were the first people to be granted refugee status by the Trump administration and are not expected to be the last Afrikaners to come to the US. The South Africans, including children, were greeted upon their arrival at Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia by US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Troy Edgar.
The Trump administration has moved to not only admit but to expedite the processing of Afrikaners as refugees for alleged discrimination. At the same time, it has suspended all other refugee resettlement, including for people fleeing war and famine.
The policy of exempting only White South Africans from the indefinite pause has drawn criticism from the South African government and from refugee advocates.
Landau told the new arrivals that the US was “excited” to have them, adding, “We respect what you had to deal with these last few years.” He noted that many of them are farmers and likened them to “quality seeds” that would hopefully “bloom” in the US.
“We underscored for them that the American people are a welcoming and generous people, and we underscored the importance of assimilation into the United States, which is one of the very important factors that we look to in refugee admissions,” Landau told reporters after greeting the group.
Landau claimed the Afrikaners had been “subject to very serious, egregious and targeted threats” and accused the South African government of failing to act.
“The South African government has not done what we feel is appropriate to guarantee the rights of these citizens to live in peace with their fellow South Africans, which is why, under our domestic law, they were given refugee status,” Landau said.
Earlier on Monday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said that those going to the US “do not fit the definition of a refugee.”
Ramaphosa said he told Donald Trump that what the US president had been told about the persecution of the White minority group was not true.
“Those people who have fled are not being persecuted, they are not being hounded, they are not being treated badly,” he said at a panel at the Africa CEO Forum in Cote d’Ivoire moderated by CNN’s Larry Madowo.
“They are leaving ostensibly because they don’t want to embrace the changes that are taking place in our country in accordance with our constitution,” Ramaphosa said.
Asked about Ramaphosa’s comments, Landau said, “It is not surprising, unfortunately, that a country from which refugees come does not concede that they are refugees.”
