Trump Proposes Resettling More White South Africans and Blocking Other Refugees

The Trump administration submitted a proposal to Congress to increase U.S. refugee admissions from 7,500 to 17,500, adding 10,000 openings reserved for white South Africans, specifically Afrikaners. The administration has continued to block entry of refugees from other countries. Between October and April, the U.S. resettled just over 6,000 refugees, nearly all from South Africa. Trump has claimed Afrikaners face racial persecution and genocide in South Africa, claims rejected by the UN Human Rights Office. The proposal is accompanied by litigation challenging dismantling of the U.S. refugee program, with allegations that processing is being expedited for Afrikaners while other vetted applicants are denied.

"Under President Trump's proposal, which was submitted to Congress on Monday, the U.S. would lift its record-low refugee admissions figure from 7,500 to 17,500, with the additional openings reserved for Afrikaners. This comes as the administration continues to block the entry of refugees from other countries. The U.S. has resettled just over 6,000 refugees between October and April - all except three were from South Africa."

"Trump has said Afrikaners face racial persecution and genocide in South Africa, claims that have been rejected by the U.N. Human Rights Office, among others. Last year, he cut off aid to the country and boycotted the G20 summit in Johannesburg. "Whiteness is being recast as endangered," says Lebohang Pheko, a professor of practice at the University of Johannesburg."

""There is a move towards the alt-right, the MAGA discourse, which is about replacement theory, and which is absolutely about displacing the idea that anything other than whiteness is normative." Pheko also suggests that Trump's actions toward South Africa are retribution for the genocide case it brought against Israel at the International Court of Justice. "We are processing resettlement cases for white Afrikaners at a record pace," adds Sharif Aly, president of the International Refugee Assistance Project."

""This program has never been a fast program, and it's being expedited for just this one population." While Afrikaners are being quickly resettled, "thousands of other people who have went through years of vetting, who have went through years of persecution and violence," are being blocked from entering the U.S., says Aly."

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