President Trump signed An executive order in February Determining the refugee status for Afrikaners, the white ethnic minority in South Africa that has created and led the brutal system of apartheid.
As part of the executive order, the Trump government has created an accelerated path for Afrikaners to reset itself in the United States, even because the administration has blocked the most refugees from countries affected by war and famine.
While waiting for the airport in Johannesburg, the passengers said that the American embassy had instructed them not to speak with the news media. The first group of Afrikaners Arrived in the United States on May 12.
Who are the Afrikaners?
The Afrikaners who arrived in the United States on Monday are the descendants of the European colonizers who came to South Africa about four centuries ago. They later created the brutal system of apartheid in 1948.
Decades after the end of apartheid, some Afrikaners now say that they are denied jobs and are the target of violence because of their breed.
“No white person with his full mind would stay in this country,” said Jaco van der Merwe, 52, an Afrikaner who lives in Johannesburg. “I believe that South Africa is ready.”
Forty-nine Afrikaners-Including parents and children stepped on Sunday evening in a flight in Johannesburg to the United States, according to a spokesperson for the airport authority of South Africa.
The US Department of Foreign Affairs said in March that it had received 8,000 questions from people looking for information about the refugee program. It is unclear whether the US government will allow more families.
Organizations such as The Americaners are set up To help “to support South Africans who are looking for a new future in the United States.” Some leading Afrikaner activists say they would rather Mr Trump help their business at home instead of offering refugee status in the United States.
What does land have to do with it?
Much of the dissatisfaction among Afrikaners concentrates on their experience in rural communities and frustration about land ownership.
Many Afrikaners farm to earn a living. During apartheid, the Black South Africans government denied the right to possess prime agricultural land. That meant that almost all large -scale commercial farms of the country were white companies. This remains true today.
Although white South Africans are only 7 percent of the population, they have agricultural land that covers about half of the country. The South African government has tried to tackle this inequality with various land reform programs, including the recent Expropriation lawAs a result of which the government can be acquired in the public interest in the public interest in the public interest without giving the owner compensation.
When Mr. Trump signed the executive order The announcement of his plans to reset ‘Afrikaner -refugees’, he said it was because the South African government had created a system that ‘racial landowners do not promote’.
Why do Afrikaners get the refugee status?
Refugees can often wait years before they are processed and approved to travel to the United States. The Afrikaners who arrived on Monday did not have to wait more than three months.
The president has equated the efforts of the South African government to undo racial inequalities of anti-white discrimination. He said on Monday that the Afrikaners were the victims of one ‘Genocide.“
“Farmers are killed,” he told reporters. “They happen to be white. Whether they are white or black makes no difference to me. White farmers are brutally killed and the country is confiscated in South Africa.”
Police data do not support that story, which shows that murders on farms are rare and that the victims are usually black.
South African officials have described the movements of the government as politically motivated. Mr. Trump has criticized the South African government for its ties with Iran and for bringing A genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice About the war in Gaza.
“It is very regrettable that it seems that the resettlement of South Africans in the United States under the guise of ‘refugees’ is fully politically motivated and designed to question the constitutional democracy of South Africa,” said Chrispin Phiri, a spokesperson for the South African government, said in an explanation.
How are they resettled in the United States?
Mr. Trump said on Monday that the United States would grant citizenship to Afrikaners.
The administration is planning to rely on a refugee office at the Ministry of Health and Human Services to help with resettlement. In recent days, the office has contacted refugee organizations to prepare for the arrival of the Afrikaners, according to a departmental memo obtained by the New York Times.
According to the memo, the administration will help the Afrikaners to find “temporary or longer -term housing” and “Basic home furnishings, essential household items and cleaning supplies”.
The administration is also planning to help the Afrikaners “groceries, weather-entitled clothing, diapers, formula, hygiene products and prepaid phones that support the daily well-being of households,” said the memo.
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