Even if they were helping to build a new home for the 59 Africans currently in the US, the refugee settlement group says their prompt arrival shows how the federal government can safely bring others here.
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.
- Africans are white minorities in South Africa and once ruled the country during apartheid.
- President Donald Trump says they face criticism and signed the order in February to allow them to enter the United States as refugees.
- On May 12, a group of 59 people arrived in the United States and have resettled all over the country.
- In January, Trump stopped resettlement for refugees. This is a move facing legal challenges.
- The resettlement group says the arrival of Africans shows how the federal government can move quickly and hopes other refugees will come to America now.
Yasmin Aguilar resettled in Boise, Idaho years ago as an Afghan refugee, but the dangers of her parents have worsened over time. At the end of last year, after years of waiting, her brother and sister were finally ahead of joining her.
President Donald Trump was later appointed for his second term.
Trump in January suspended refugee programs decades ago. It left their approval in Limbo, and their families were stuck in Pakistan, unable to work, increasingly fearing deportation to Afghanistan.
This week, her family struggle contrasted with the swiftly tracked arrivals of 59 Africans, members of South African white ethnic minority whom Trump said were suffering from racism. At least nine people have resettled in Idaho.
Aguilar, 54, said people at risk should be able to seek safety, including South African families moving to Twin Falls, an agricultural city about 120 miles from Boise. However, she said other refugees, including Afghans who supported the US war effort, deserve similar considerations.
Now she is one of refugee advocates, sponsors and relatives, and brings new attention to the light letters of tens of thousands of refugees, like brothers who have been waiting for years, but have experienced approval, recognition.
On May 15th, those hopes faced a setback when a federal judge pulled back an order that required the Trump administration to recognize the 12,000 refugees who arranged for the trip. Instead, he has requested 160 admissions for those who traveled within two weeks of Trump’s inauguration, with the rest being decided on a case-by-case basis.
Aguilar, who bought a big house with her husband to house her relatives years ago, endured the pandemic and delays from Trump’s first term refugee restrictions, saying she was “at about to be exposed to hope.”
“I’m happy people are looking for safety. There’s no problem with that,” she said in an interview with USA Today.. “We need to have a fair system for everyone.”
From Idaho to North Carolina, Africans find new homes
The newly arrived Africans, part of the ethnic minority group that once ruled the apartheid system that ended when Nelson Madera became president in 1994, flew to Washington, D.C.’s Dulles airport on May 12.
Most people didn’t speak to reporters, but 44-year-old farmer Will Halzenberg said in the Atlantic that his family headed to Idaho, where the farm and mountains reminded him of the home. He said his parents and sister were shot dead in 1993 during an attack on the family farm.
This week, Trump said there was a “genocide” happening, and “white farmers are being brutally killed.” He also cited South Africa’s expropriation law, which governs the acquisition of private land for the “public interest.” The disparity in land ownership has continued for decades since apartheid ended.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has challenged Trump’s claims. And the group Genocide Watch notes that while South Africa’s population is 8% white, white residents make up just 2% of murder victims.
Deputy Chief Christopher Landau greeted the arrival in Dulles, saying he respected “what you had to deal with” and “the long traditions of your people” in relation to African ethnic groups.
“Welcome to the United States,” Landau told them. “It’s a great honor to have you here today.”
The move has led to rapid criticism. Refugees must generally be designated first by the United Nations. Most often, you wait a few years for an interview and review before a small portion resettles in a third country. The Africans were approved in February following the Trump order.
The Anglican Church decided on May 12th that it would not cooperate with federal refugees after being asked to help resolve Africans.
“It’s been painful to see a group of refugees selected in a very unusual way, but I have received priority treatment over the years over many other people who have been waiting in refugee camps and in dangerous situations,” Bishop Sean Lowe said in a letter.
Other agencies doing similar jobs this week have been busy helping some of their families resettle in communities across the country.
According to the US Commission on Refugees and Immigration, they receive the same services available to new refugees, including case management, employment services, housing assistance and limited financial aid.
In North Carolina, Mark Wyatt, head of Raleigh Ministries at Group Welcome House, told USA Today that his group is helping to provide apartments for several African families. Although the group’s designation as a refugee was “very controversial,” he said his Christian faith taught him to welcome strangers.
In Alabama, former vegetable farmer Errol Langton48 told The New York Times that he faced threats and suffered financially due to resentment against Africans. He already had a brother in Birmingham, Alabama, where he resettled.
In New York, 46-year-old Charl Kleinhaus told the BBC he wanted to ensure that his children are safe after receiving threats about his land. He described how quickly he reached this country.
In addition to the larger freeze, the Ministry of Homeland Security recently said it would end the temporary protected status of Afghans in July, claiming that the security and economic situation had improved. It is Afghanistans such as the Aguilar conflict.
“I mean, I’m sorry that Afghans can’t get here, but I know there’s a process there,” Kleinhouse said. “And you know when you’re approved for the process and they’re taking care of you.”
Eskinder Negash, chairman of the US Refugees and Immigration Committee, a resettled group, said in a statement that he hoped that hospitalization would cause the reopening of other refugees. But so far, there have been few signs of that other than a plan to introduce more South Africans.
“We hope that the arrival of this refugee group will demonstrate the government’s intention to reopen the US refugee program and support other refugees who need resettlement services,” he said.
Refugee advocates are trying to ease restrictions
In Twin Falls, nine members of two families were preparing to start a new life, said Holly Beach, a spokesman for the Idaho Refugee Office.
Over the past decade, the state has resettled around 800 refugees a year. This amounted to an average taking into account Trump’s first term limit, the pandemic, the collapse of Kabul and the war in Ukraine.
The Twin Falls Resettlement Agency holds its annual picnic where refugees cook food in gratitude to the community. Elsewhere, there is also support for refugees that are highly vetted, as opposed to those who crossed the southern border to seek asylum.
That’s what Joe Mitchell, a retired person who helped sponsor Afghan refugees in the town of Idaho Falls, sees.
“Idaho is a red state and Idaho Falls is even redder, but our community stands out as a welcoming community,” Mitchell said.
He and his wife Kim Mitchell said the Afghans they sponsored through the Welcome Legion had been cancelled by the Trump administration and attended community colleges, working and supporting them all. However, the wives of two males with one child are about to reunite through a family unification program. He has yet to see his child, born after he escaped.
“Why isn’t my father coming? Doesn’t he love me?” Kim Mitchell said that children often ask their mothers.
In a suspension on January 20th, Trump’s executive order said that “only a small number of refugees could be resettled in Idaho because it cited the inability to absorb many migrants, particularly refugees, into the community in a way that would not undermine the availability of resources for Americans.”
Danilo Zach, director of policy for World Service at the Church of the Resettlement Agency, said there are more than 100,000 people in the currently marginalized pipeline of US refugees.
After Trump suspended the refugee program, a group of refugees and resettlement agencies filed a federal lawsuit challenging the closure after freezing funds for processing and resettlement aid.
On May 15, a federal judge revamped his previous order to force the United States to resettle 12,000 after the court of appeals clarification. This led judges to request resettlement of those who travelled two weeks after the closure. Others’ qualifications will be considered on a case-by-case basis. It is still decided how it works.
Trump’s executive order, which suspended the program, required reports from state and homeland security secretaries every 90 days. “Until we decide that reopening USRAP will be in the interest of the US.” Melissa Keeney, an attorney for the International Refugee Assistance Project, said the 90-day report has not yet been released.
USA Today contacted the State Department to comment on whether to expand hospitalizations for refugees.
Keeney said he hopes African readmissions will show that resuming resettlement is not a hassle. However, the president has a wide range of room in setting resettlement targets for refugees.
“It clearly shows that the government can provide a quick and efficient process,” she said.
