Cape Town, South Africa (AP) — A group of 49 white South Africans have departed their homeland for the United States on a private charter plane offered refugee status by the Trump administration under a new program announced in February.
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According to South Africa's Ministry of Transport spokesman Koren Misibi, the group, which includes families and small children, was scheduled to arrive at Dulles International Airport, outside Washington on Monday morning, local time.
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They are the first Africans – a white minority group in South Africa – to migrate after the US president of South Africa on February 7, South Africa's black-led government condemned racism against them and announced a programme that would provide migration to the United States.
The South African government has said that persecution of Africans is “completely false.”
The Trump administration has been challenging in court, quickly following their applications while suspending other refugee programs, halting arrivals from Afghanistan, Iraq, sub-Saharan Africa and other countries.
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Refugee groups wonder why South Africans are given priority over people in countries suffering from wars and natural disasters. Reviewing refugee status in the United States often takes years.
The Trump administration says the South African government is pursuing racist, anti-white policies through positive action laws and new land expropriation laws that say it targets African lands. The government says these claims are based on misinformation, with no racism against Africans and no land expropriation, but the controversial law has been passed and is the focus of South Africa's criticism.
South Africa has also denies the US, which claims Africans are targeted in racially motivated attacks in several rural communities. Instead, the South African government has said that Africans, descendants of Dutch and French colonial settlers, are “the most economically privileged” in the country.
The first African refugees were traveling on flights run by OmniAir International, an Oklahoma-based charter company, Msibi said. They fly to Dakar, Senegal, where they stop there to refuel and head to Dulles.
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They departed from Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, where police officers and airport officials accompanied them when they checked in. Mishibi said he must examine the police to ensure there are no criminal cases or unsolved warrants before being allowed to leave.
The South African government said there was no justification for them to move, but that would not stop them and respect their freedom of choice.
Women are once again showing off their African Magmar (Maga) Cap on the American Magmar, where President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk gather in front of the US embassy in Pretoria to hold demonstrations on February 15, 2025. Photo by Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images
They are expected to be welcomed in Dulles by a US government delegation, including deputy director of the Department of Health and Human Services, whose refugee office organized resettlement, and officials from the Department of Health and Human Services.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told reporters Friday. Miller said what was happening to Africans in South Africa “conforms to the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created.”
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“This is persecution based on protected traits. In this case, race. This is race-based persecution,” he said.
The HHS Refugee Resettlement Office was ready to provide support to them, including housing, furniture and other household items, food, clothing, diapers and more. The document said the transfer of Africans “states the government's priorities.”
Among South Africa's 62 million people, there are around 2.7 million Africans, more than 80%. They are just some of the country's white minority.
Many South Africa are perplexed by the claim that Africans meet the requirements for persecution and relocation as refugees.
They are part of South Africa's everyday multi-ethnic life, serving the government as many successful business leaders and as Cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers. Their language is widely spoken and recognized as an official language, and churches and other institutions that reflect African culture hold prominent things in almost every city and town.
The Trump administration has criticised South Africa in several ways. Trump's February executive order cut all US funds to South Africa to say it is an anti-white stance and accusing him of pursuing an anti-American foreign policy. It cited relations between South Africa and Iran, and cited the move to submit a genocide case with Israel over the war in Gaza as an example of “taking an offensive stance towards the United States.”
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