President Trump’s Resettlement Program Brings a Second Group of White South African Refugees to the United States

The Trump administration’s refugee program sent nine white South Africans to the United States in February.

Under a refugee resettlement program started under previous President Donald Trump’s administration, a second batch of white South Africans have arrived in the US, US officials and advocacy groups said Monday.

A commercial flight last week brought nine people, including families, to Atlanta, according to Jaco Kleynhans, head of international liaison for the Solidarity Movement, an organization that represents South Africa’s white Afrikaner minority.

As part of the continuous operations of the Afrikaner resettlement program, “refugees continue to arrive in the United States from South Africa on commercial flights,” according to a representative for the US Embassy in South Africa, who verified the arrival.

The first batch of 59 white South Africans arrived at Dulles International Airport in Virginia last month on a chartered flight.

Last month, 59 white South Africans in the first wave of the new program, which US President Donald Trump announced in February, landed at Dulles International Airport in Virginia on a chartered flight. After halting other US refugee programs indefinitely, the Trump administration expedited the resettlement of white South Africans.

The South African administration has vehemently denied these allegations, claiming they are false and misrepresent the state of affairs in the nation.

According to his administration, the Black-led government in South Africa persecutes and incites racially motivated violence against white South Africans.

International observers and human rights organizations have not provided evidence to support allegations of widespread, state-sanctioned persecution of white South Africans.

The majority of South Africa’s Afrikaner population is descended from Dutch and French colonists. Last month, the US Embassy released new guidelines stating that candidates must 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.”

The scheme has been criticized by a number of sources for favoring one racial group over another under the refugee system, which has sparked worries about prejudice in US immigration law.

The 62 million people who live in South Africa, more than 80% of whom are Black, include about 2.7 million Afrikaners. The white minority is not unique to them. All white people, including those of British or other ancestry, number about 4.5 million.

The US “continues to review inquiries from individuals who have expressed interest to the embassy in resettling to the United States and is reaching out to eligible individuals for refugee interviews and processing,” according to a spokesperson for the US Embassy.

Although the number of South Africans who have applied to be moved has not been disclosed by US officials, Kleynhans stated that approximately 8,000 applications had been submitted. Tens of thousands of white South Africans have applied for refugee status, according to another organization that assists them in doing so.