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JOHANNESBURG — A second group of white South Africans has arrived within the United States underneath a refugee program introduced by the Trump administration, officers and advocacy teams stated Monday.
Nine folks, together with households and kids, arrived late final week, stated Jaco Kleynhans, head of worldwide liaison on the Solidarity Movement, a bunch representing members of South Africa’s white Afrikaner minority. The group traveled on a business flight, he stated.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy stated in an electronic mail to The Associated Press that “refugees continue to arrive in the United States from South Africa on commercial flights as part of the Afrikaner resettlement program’s ongoing operations.”
An preliminary group of 59 white South Africans arrived at Dulles International Airport in Virginia on a chartered flight final month underneath the brand new program introduced by U.S. President Donald Trump in February. The Trump administration fast-tracked the resettlement of white South Africans after indefinitely suspending different U.S. refugee applications.
The Trump administration stated it’s providing refugee standing to white South Africans it alleges are being persecuted by their Black-led authorities and are victims of racially motivated violence. The South African authorities has denied the allegations and stated they’re a mischaracterization of the nation.
Trump has falsely claimed that white South African farmers are focused in widespread assaults that quantity to genocide and are having their land taken away. Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with these baseless claims throughout a gathering on the White House final month.
Ramaphosa has stated the comparatively small variety of assaults on white farmers are a part of South Africa’s bigger issues with violent crime, which impacts all races.
The Trump administration initially stated the refugee program was geared toward members of South Africa’s Afrikaner minority, who’re descendants of primarily Dutch and French colonial settlers. In new steerage printed by the U.S. Embassy final month, candidates have to 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.”
There are roughly 2.7 million Afrikaners amongst South Africa’s inhabitants of 62 million, which is greater than 80% Black. They usually are not the one white minority. There are round 4.5 million whites in whole, together with these with British or different heritage.
The U.S. Embassy spokesperson stated the U.S. “continues to evaluate inquiries from people who’ve expressed curiosity to the embassy in resettling to the United States and is reaching out to eligible people for refugee interviews and processing.”
While U.S. officials have not said how many South Africans have applied to be relocated, Kleynhans said there have been around 8,000 applications. Another group helping white South Africans apply for refugee status has said tens of thousands have applied.
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AP Africa information:
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