Trump refugee plan seeks 7,000 Afrikaners — and virtually no one else

Story by Adam Taylor, Teo Armus

 

The Trump administration’s plan to overhaul the U.S. 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 United States through the system, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post and people familiar with the matter.

If the administration succeeds, almost all people admitted to the U.S. as refugees — as many as 7,000 from a maximum potential pool of 7,500 — could be Afrikaners, a group not traditionally eligible for the program but one that President Donald Trump says has been tyrannized 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 authorized to discuss the administration’s objectives.

Shortly after entering office, Trump issued an executive order temporarily halting the admission of most refugees, including those already vetted by the U.S. government, pending a review. Trump made an exception for Afrikaners who he has said face racial discrimination, a characterization rejected as unmoored from reality by South African officials and some Afrikaners themselves.

The initiative, begun in May, has experienced a slow start with fewer than 400 Afrikaners arriving as refugees in the U.S. through the end of September, people familiar with the matter said. The administration had an early goal of resettling 1,000 people by the start of this month, according to the documents reviewed by The Post and people familiar with the matter. When it became clear that was unrealistic, officials set a new target of getting 1,000 people processed for admission.

Others familiar with the situation said the administration’s resettlement efforts have been slowed at least in part by the Afrikaners themselves, with some changing their minds about relocating to the U.S. after going through security and medical screenings or electing to delay their journeys to sell property and belongings…

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