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Critics in the US are questioning why Afrikaners are being fast-tracked while thousands of vetted refugees remain stranded.
A group of Afrikaners gathered outside the American Embassy in Pretoria to deliver a memorandum to US President Donald Trump. Picture: Nigel Sibanda /The Citizen
As the first plane load of South African “refugees” headed towards their new home in America yesterday, the US embassy in South Africa confirmed that President Donald Trump’s offer of asylum is now open to all minorities in this country who have been “persecuted” or feel they may be persecuted.
In a statement on its website yesterday, the US embassy and consulates in South Africa said the US department of state “is coordinating with the department of homeland security and implementing partners to consider eligibility for US refugee resettlement for Afrikaners and disfavoured minorities in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination”.
It went on: “To be eligible for US resettlement consideration, individuals must meet all of the following criteria:
The embassy added: “Individuals who meet all the above criteria and would like to be considered for referral to the US refugee admissions programme should complete and submit a statement of interest form. You should complete the form even if you have previously e-mailed the embassy, or other US government entity, expressing your interest. Given the volume of interest, individuals may not receive a response for an extended period.”
The statement of interest form states: “The information solicited on this inquiry form will be used to determine outreach for a follow-on interview to determine eligibility for referral for resettlement consideration” under the programme.
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It notes, however, that “responding to this application is voluntary. Failure to provide the information requested on this inquiry form may result in the inability to participate in the programme”.
Information required on the statement includes personal and contact details and asks whether the applicant is resident in South Africa and if they have a South African passport.
Applicants must also say how many dependants will be accompanying them and the earliest date at which they will be ready to travel.
In order to assess the claim for refugee status, applicants are asked to “select which option(s) best represent the personal circumstances that they believe qualifies them for refugee status such as “past persecution based on race; past persecution based on religion; past persecution based on nationality; past persecution based on political opinion; past persecution based on membership in a particular social group; fear of future harm based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group should you remain in or return to South Africa; or none of the above”.
A US state department spokesperson said: “The US embassy in Pretoria has been conducting interviews and processing pursuant to President Trump’s executive order on addressing egregious actions of the Republic of South Africa.
“We continue to review inquiries from individuals who have expressed interest to the embassy in resettling to the United States.
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“While we are unable to comment on individual cases, the department of state is prioritising consideration for US refugee resettlement of Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination.”
When Trump took office on 20 January this year, he immediately banned refugee resettlement in the US. There have been legal challenges to this following reports that 12 000 refugees had flights booked for travel to the US when the refugee ban went into place.
Those people have all been approved through lengthy security and screening processes, many waiting for years in third countries for their cases to move forward.
Reports in the US says the refugees from SA will not be served by the reception and placement programme – which remains suspended – but will be eligible to receive support via certain Office of Refugee Resettlement integration services.
Church World Service president and CEO Rick Santos said: “We are concerned that the US government has chosen to fast-track the admission of Afrikaners, while actively fighting court orders to provide life-saving resettlement to other refugee populations who are in desperate need of resettlement.”
In a statement to the New York Times, a supervising attorney at the International Refugee Assistance Project said that the rapid processing of Afrikaners “flies in the face of the government’s claims that they aren’t able to process already approved refugees, even after multiple courts ordered them to do so immediately”.
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