Trump refugee plan seeks 7000 Afrikaners, and virtually no one else

RESETTLEMENT FAST-TRACKED

- 

THE US refugee admissions programme for Afrikaners in South Africa has been ramped up to include 7 000 people this year.

(AFP)

THE Trump administration’s plan to overhaul the US refugee resettlement process, including a drastic reduction in overall annual admissions, coincides with a concerted effort to prepare thousands of white South Africans to relocate to the US through the system, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post and people familiar with the effort.

If the administration succeeds, almost all people admitted to the US as refugees — as many as 7000 from a maximum potential pool of 7500 - could be Afrikaners, a group not traditionally eligible for the programme but one that US President Donald Trump says has been tyrannised by South Africa’s black majority.

The remainder may be chosen because of their ability to speak English or their views on “free speech”, people familiar with the matter said, upending a system that for decades had taken in people fleeing conflict and persecution from all over the world regardless of race or language.

The State Department has set a goal of processing 2 000 Afrikaners for resettlement by the end of October and an additional 4 000 by the end of November, according to two people familiar with the matter, speaking like some others on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the administration’s objectives.

Soon after entering office, Trump issued an executive order temporarily halting the admission of most refugees, including those already vetted by the US government, pending a review.

Trump made an exception for Afrikaners who he has said faced racial discrimination, a characterisation rejected as unmoored from reality by South African officials and some Afrikaners themselves.