Trump welcomes us the first white South African refugees
After suspending the US refugee program, President Trump has made the exception to white South Africans known as Africans.
The Trump administration warmly welcomed 49 white South Africans when they arrived in the United States on May 12, and accused them of refugee status as victims of racism, before accusing them of South African government and human rights activists.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said accusations of racial persecution of white South Africans were “a totally false story.”
President Donald Trump’s welcoming white minorities in South Africa is in contrast to the revocation of the status of hundreds of thousands of refugees who fled violence and political persecution from countries such as Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. Hours after he took office, Trump closed his refugee resettlement program, effectively ending the routes for refugees to secure asylum in the United States, suffocating all funds for refugees resettlement.
Prior to their arrival, Trump said white South Africans were victims of “genocide.” The South African government says it is not supported by the evidence.
Genocide, like the Holocaust, is defined in the Genocide Convention as the killing of a group’s members due to their race, religion, or country of origin.
“White farmers are being brutally murdered,” Trump told reporters in the Roosevelt Room in the White House.
However, white South Africans are less likely to be murder victims than black South Africans. Group Genocide Watch notes that South Africa’s population is 8% white, but white people account for just 2% of murder victims.
The South African government said on May 9 that “South African Police Services Statistics on Farm-Related Crimes do not support allegations of violent crimes targeted at general or specific races.”
“There’s a very clear definition of genocide, and South Africans don’t quite fit the definition of what’s going on with South Africa,” said Mandeep Tiwana, chief executive of evidence and engagement for Civicus, a South Africa-based human rights advocacy group. “In fact, white South Africans are a privileged minority.”
Trump also justified the granting of refugee status on the grounds that white South African farmers confiscated the land. Ramaphosa signed a law that allowed the government to seize land in January.
Until 1994, South Africa was ruled by the country’s white minority (many of the descendants of Dutch settlers known as Africans). White people still own most of the land and dominate a very large share of the country’s wealth.
Deputy Chief Chris Landau said he personally welcomed South Africans at Dulles Airport near Washington, D.C., and respected “the long traditions of your people” in relation to African ethnic groups.
“Welcome to the United States of America. It’s a great honor to welcome you here today,” Landau told the group.
“It’s just performance.”
South African Elon Musk has accused the government of discriminating against the white population even before it joined as advisor and director of the government’s efficiency department.
Laura Thompson Osli, executive director of Holmes with no borders, was among the three protesters shown near the airport’s check-in counter when South Africa arrived Monday afternoon. “Africans are not refugees,” read her protest symbol.
“They don’t cite these Africans, but as tens of thousands of refugees… no actual refugees are allowed in,” Osli said.
Osli called Africans to be recognized as the organization helps resettle refugees in the Washington area and as the Trump administration shut down channels for refugees from other countries “absurdly.”
“It’s just a performance,” she said. “They have not escaped war, violence, persecution.”
Trump’s closure of all refugee hospitalizations, except for white South Africans – has attracted intense criticism from humanitarian organisations.
The Immigration Department of the Episcopal Church said that after the Trump administration asked to help resettle Africans, it would end all refugee resettlement subsidies contracts.
“It was painful to see a group of refugees selected in a very unusual way, but it has been treated more than many others who have been waiting for refugee camps and in dangerous situations over the years,” Bishop’s bishop Sean Lowe said in a letter.
Contributors: Joey Garrison, Ben Adler
This article has been updated to provide additional information.
