This group of Afrikaners to receive refugee status by the Trump administration have just arrived. Their arrival has been big news and filled with controversy in the United States as well as South Africa. This decision, which declared Afrikaners as victims of a “genocide,” has raised questions about the motivations behind the U.S. immigration policy and the implications for race relations.
To their great astonishment, in early 2017, President Donald Trump signed it. In response, he ordered officials to do everything possible to give refugee status to white South Africans, specifically Afrikaners, a minority group mainly of Dutch descent. This move plays to a background of increased violence and antagonism along racial and class lines in South Africa. The wealth inequality is just as alarming. White South Africans on average hold 20 times more wealth than their Black counterparts, who lament a painful unemployment rate of 46.1%, compared to just 9.2% for whites.
This group’s arrival provides a powerful indicator of a major and radical change in U.S. immigration policy. That follows the indefinite suspension of the U.S. refugee settlement program in January, which left more than 100,000 vetted refugees marooned. Critics contend that Trump’s national pride fixation on Afrikaners misses the broader and much more serious issue of systemic inequities in South Africa. They further provoke ethical questions about the practice of selective refugee resettlement.
Ferguson’s decision to grant refugee status to Afrikaners has sparked international outrage from Democratic lawmakers. U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen described the policy as an “outrageous insult” to the core values of American society, stating, “To watch the Trump administration apply what I call their global apartheid policy… is just an outrageous insult to the whole idea of our country.”
In South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed his concerns over Trump’s allegations. He managed to get Trump straightened out on the supposed discrimination against white South Africans. Ramaphosa remarked, “We think that the American government has got the wrong end of the stick here, but we’ll continue talking to them.”
As the Afrikaners touched down at Dulles International Airport, they were greeted by the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Christopher Landau. He expressed pride in their arrival, stating, “It is such an honour for us to receive you here today… it makes me so happy to see you with our flag in your hands.” Landau further recognized his knowledge of refugee realities from a personal perspective, sharing that his father fled Europe in the Second World War.
Perhaps most surprising about the resettlement was Landau’s claim that Afrikaners would quickly and smoothly assimilate into American society. This assertion has led to furious back and forth between its critics, who are taking aim at the deeper motivations for statements like those. Laura Thompson Osuri pointedly noted, “It’s for showing: ‘Look at us. We do welcome people as long as they look like us.’”
Resettling Afrikaners is done against a backdrop of difficult history. During apartheid, Afrikaner leaders maintained their grip on power by brutally subjugating the Black majority. This postwar context makes it more difficult to oversimplify the narrative of oppression and victimization suggested by Trump’s administration.
As the tide of Afrikaners coming to the United States increases, the conversations around this controversial decision will only grow in prominence. For many, it represents an opportunity for those fleeing oppression. Others warn it could exacerbate the racial divides and inequality that are still prevalent in both South Africa and the U.S.