US ready to accept unaccompanied South African migrants

The Trump administration will welcome more than two dozen white South Africans to the United States as refugees next week, an unusual move because it has suspended most refugee resettlement operations, officials and documents said Friday.

The first Afrikaner refugees are arriving Monday at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press. They are expected to be greeted by a government delegation, including the deputy secretary of state and officials from the Department of Health and Human Services, whose refugee office has organized their resettlement.

The flight will be the first of several in a “much larger-scale relocation effort,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told reporters.

The Trump administration has taken a number of steps against South Africa, accusing the Black-led government of pursuing anti-white policies at home and an anti-American foreign policy. The South African government denies the allegations and says the U.S. criticism is full of misinformation.

While State Department refugee programs have been suspended - halting arrivals from Afghanistan, Iraq, most of sub-Saharan Africa and other countries in a move being challenged in court - President Donald Trump issued an executive order in February prioritizing the processing of white South Africans claiming racial discrimination.

“What’s happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created,” Miller said. “This is persecution based on a protected characteristic - in this case, race. This is race-based persecution.”