A plane carrying dozens of White South Africans arrived at Dulles International Airport on Monday, a State Department official said, after the Trump administration granted them refugee status in the United States.
The group — which includes families with children — was greeted at the D.C.-area airport by U.S. officials, including Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Troy Edgar. Landau told reporters the group has faced “egregious discrimination” in South Africa — which the country’s government has denied.
Landau said the new arrivals were “carefully vetted” in South Africa prior to their arrival. They departed the country’s capital city of Johannesburg via a charter plane on Sunday.
Earlier this year, President Trump directed his government to allow South Africans of European descent — particularly Afrikaners, who are largely descended from Dutch settlers — to be resettled through the U.S. refugee program.
The administration and its allies, including South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, allege members of South Africa’s White minority have faced discrimination by the country’s post-apartheid government, including through a controversial law that allows the government to take private land in some circumstances.
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“South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social in February.
The South African government has strongly denied any discrimination, and argues the land seizure law respects private property rights and only targets land that isn’t used or doesn’t serve the public interest. Land ownership has long been a sensitive issue in South Africa, which was ruled by its White minority under the apartheid system until the mid-1990s.
“It is ironic that the executive order makes provision for refugee status in the US for a group in South Africa that remains amongst the most economically privileged, while vulnerable people in the U.S. from other parts of the world are being deported and denied asylum despite real hardship,” South Africa’s Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation said in a February statement.
Landau also cited attacks on South African farmers in recent years, saying the new arrivals have faced “egregious and targeted threats.” The South African government argues attacks in the country’s rural farming communities are not racially targeted and are part of South Africa’s broader crime problem.
The Trump administration has also clashed with the South African government over foreign policy, including its criticism of Israel. Mr. Trump signed an executive order in February directing his government to halt aid to South Africa.
The South Africans moved through the refugee process at an unusually fast clip, arriving in the United States after a few months, even though the process frequently takes years.
They also arrived in the United States despite a broader effort by the Trump administration to suspend the refugee admission program — a move that has drawn court challenges.
Refugee group declines to help resettle South Africans
The federal government typically relies on nonprofits to help resettle refugees in the United States, but at least one group, Episcopal Migration Ministries, said Monday it will not assist with the South African arrivals.
Episcopal Bishop Sean Rowe said the government informed the group — which receives federal grants — that it would be expected to assist the South Africans. The group opted against assisting and will instead wind down its work with the government, he said, citing the group’s “steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation.”
“It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years,” Rowe said in a statement.
Some other refugee resettlement groups have indicated they are willing to work with the South Africans.
Church World Service CEO Rick Santos criticized the government for restricting most other refugee admissions, but said the group “remains committed to serving all eligible refugee populations seeking safety in the United States, including Afrikaners who are eligible for services,” in a statement to the Associated Press.
