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The South African government and advocacy groups for the country’s Afrikaner white minority rejected on Wednesday the Trump administration’s position that there’s a humanitarian emergency affecting white people in South Africa.
The argument served as the administration’s rationale for raising the US refugee cap, but only for white Afrikaners.
The Trump administration said on Tuesday that it will admit an additional 10,000 white South Africans into the US as refugees this year, increasing its annual quota, but blocking people from other countries from entering through the programme.
President Donald Trump announced he was increasing the refugee cap for white South Africans because of “an unforeseen emergency refugee situation.”
He blamed the South African government for “recent increases in the incitement of racially motivated violence,” but gave no specific information.
South African Foreign Ministry spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said accusations of systemic persecution of Afrikaners were unfounded and that some beneficiaries of the refugee programme have chosen to return to South Africa.
Around 6,000 South Africans have moved to the US since the Afrikaner programme started last year, according to the US government.
Afrikaner trade union Solidariteit said refugee status isn’t a viable solution for Afrikaners, who should thrive in South Africa instead.
Spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans said the organisation didn’t know about any “unforeseen emergency refugee situation” for Afrikaners but respected the autonomy of US refugee policy.
The union “is in no way aware of anything that the Trump administration could be referring to,” Kleynhans said.
AfriForum, a lobbying group for the country’s white Afrikaner minority with more than 300,000 members, said it “does not have information” regarding the specific assertion that there’s an emergency refugee situation.
The organisation’s CEO, Kallie Kriel, said the group’s focus is “fighting to create the circumstances in South Africa where there is no need for Afrikaners to leave.”
Trump suspended the US refugee programme on his first day in office and has turned it into a vehicle to allow Afrikaners, white South Africans descended mainly from Dutch settlers, into the United States.
Advocates say the decision to focus a decades-old programme on one group has left people around the world fleeing war and other crises with few options.
Refugee groups have questioned why white South Africans are being prioritised ahead of people from countries facing war and natural disasters. Vetting for refugee status in the US often takes years.
The Trump administration’s preference for white Afrikaner refugee admissions raises questions about selective humanitarianism, inconsistent refugee protection and favouring privileged groups while ignoring others experiencing severe hardships, according to Bryony Fox, a social justice researcher at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University.
“This risks politicising refugee protection in a way that may ultimately weaken the legitimacy and universality of the refugee regime itself,” she said.
Additional sources • AP