The first Afrikaner refugees arrived in the United States, while the South African government says the Trump administration is interfering.
JOHANNESBURG—A plane carrying the first group of white Afrikaners to be resettled in the United States as refugees per an executive order issued by U.S. President Donald Trump touched down in Washington on May 12.
South African officials confirmed to The Epoch Times that a private jet chartered by the U.S. government carrying 49 Afrikaners left O.R. Tambo International Airport near Johannesburg late on Sunday.
Some of the asylum seekers said they felt they had no choice but to leave South Africa, citing high unemployment and crime rates and an environment they said makes white people feel as if they don’t belong.
On Feb. 7, Trump ordered that all American financial aid to South Africa be stopped because, allegedly, the majority black government is discriminating against the white minority, is closely tied to U.S adversaries such as Iran, and “has taken aggressive positions” toward Israel, Washington’s biggest ally in the Middle East.
The U.S. president wrote that his government would promote the resettlement of “Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored, race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation” in South Africa.
Pretoria has implemented affirmative action and black economic empowerment policies that favor black citizens for employment but has denied seizing land belonging to white residents.
It argues that certain laws are necessary to create a more equal society following decades of white minority apartheid rule.
South Africans of all races are enduring some of the highest rates of violent crime in the world, with a spotlight often shone on the brutal murders of white farmers.
Sam Busa, a South African businessperson who has established the “Amerikaners” agency to support those she calls “disenfranchised South Africans seeking a new future in the U.S.,” told The Epoch Times: “I am relieved that these Afrikaners are going to build new lives in a safe country that values freedom. The South African government is using racist laws to oppress minorities. I thank President Trump and his entire administration for their care and concern, and for their courage because they are facing great criticism for providing assistance to South African minorities.”
