Afrikaner refugees from South Africa arrive holding American flags, May 12, at Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Va.Julia Demaree Nikhinson/The Associated Press
The first group of a few dozen white South Africans has landed in Washington under a much-criticized refugee program that U.S. President Donald Trump is now describing as a response to “genocide” in their homeland.
The small group arrived Monday on a largely empty Boeing 767 passenger jet, chartered by the United States. South Africa said there were 49 people in the group, but U.S. officials said there were 59. The Boeing jet has a capacity for more than 200 passengers.
The white Afrikaners, including families with small children, smiled and waved American flags at Washington’s Dulles airport as they were welcomed by U.S. officials. They did not speak to the media.
“I am sure that you will be successful,” deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau told the Afrikaners, who applauded him.
“A lot of you are farmers,” he said. “When you have quality seeds, you can put them in foreign soil and they will blossom, they will bloom. We are excited to welcome you here to our country where we think you will bloom.”
Mr. Trump, going much further than he had in previous comments, said his administration has “essentially extended citizenship to those people” because white farmers are being “brutally killed” and their land is being “confiscated” in South Africa. “It’s a genocide that’s taking place,” he told journalists.
The genocide allegation, first made by right-wing extremists a decade ago, has been widely debunked. No farmland has been seized without legal compensation, and there is no evidence of racial motivations in South Africa’s high murder rate. The overwhelming majority of murder victims in South Africa are black. The white minority, which enjoyed privileges under the apartheid system until 1994, still controls most corporate wealth and farmland in the country.
The Afrikaners, who will reportedly settle in Texas and several other U.S. states, had their refugee applications fast-tracked by American officials in just a few weeks, without any of the normal vetting by United Nations experts. Most refugees must wait at least 18 months, and often for years, before arriving in the U.S.
Mr. Landau, at a brief news conference, complained that the Afrikaners were in a “dire situation” because their government had failed to “guarantee” their right to “live in peace with their fellow South Africans.”
Troy Edgar, the deputy secretary of homeland security, said he was grateful to have the Afrikaners in the United States. “These people went through a lot of stuff,” he said. “We think the American dream is possible for these South Africans.”
Protestors picketed the airport welcome ceremony, with some holding signs saying: “Real refugees are still waiting.” They were referring to traditional programs for refugees fleeing war zones or political persecution, all of which were suspended by Mr. Trump when he took office in January.
The State Department said it is planning to bring more of the white South Africans to the United States in the coming months, although no flights are currently scheduled. Of the three million Afrikaners in South Africa, about 8,000 have reportedly applied for refugee status.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the Afrikaners were “enticed” to the United States even though they are not legitimate refugees and faced no persecution.
“We’re the only country on the continent where the colonizers came to stay and we’ve never driven them out of our country,” Mr. Ramaphosa told journalists on Monday. “They are staying and they’re making great progress.”
U.S. Democratic lawmakers noted that the UN had not found any South Africans eligible for refugee status last year. “The decision by this administration to put one group at the front of the line is clearly politically motivated and an effort to rewrite history,” Senator Jeanne Shaheen said in a statement.
“The administration must clarify why these individuals qualify for refugee status and resettlement in the U.S. and why they have been prioritized over refugees like Afghans, Burmese Rohingya and Sudanese who have fled their homes due to conflict and persecution.”
Senator Chris Van Hollen said the fast-tracking of the Afrikaners was an example of a “global apartheid policy” by the Trump administration.
Jeff Crisp, an expert on asylum and migration at the University of Oxford and a former head of policy and development at the UN’s refugee agency, said there was no evidence that the Afrikaners have a “well-founded fear of being persecuted” – the standard criterion for being granted asylum in another country. The Trump initiative seems to be a publicity stunt, he told The Globe and Mail this week.
With a report by Adrian Morrow in Washington