Trump brings first white South Africans to the USA as refugees

The US administration under Donald Trump will welcome the first group of white South Africans it previously classified as refugees on Monday. According to US media reports, citing government officials and official documents, 54 South African citizens will depart from Johannesburg on Sunday and arrive at Washington Dulles Airport on Monday. There, they will be received by government officials at an event.

A US government official told the BBC that "white South Africans who are victims of unjust racial discrimination" are given priority for interviews for resettlement in the US. Since January, the US refugee admissions program, which offers protection in the US to thousands of people fleeing war or famine, has been suspended .

Thousands of South Africans have reportedly contacted the US Embassy in Pretoria so far. US news platform The Lever cited a memo dated April 30 stating that Washington is preparing to resettle up to 1,000 South Africans this year, according to a government source.

Relations between the US and South Africa have been strained for months. In February, Trump froze his country's aid to South Africa, citing a land confiscation law that he claimed discriminated against white farmers. In March, Trump offered the farmers refuge in the US. His ally Elon Musk, who grew up in South Africa during apartheid, has also been critical of Pretoria, claiming the country is waging a "genocide" against white farmers.

Pretoria concerned about planned admission of white South Africans to the USA

The South African government had expressed concern about the planned admission of white South Africans to the United States. The government was "concerned about the information that the United States has begun processing the admission of suspected refugees from South Africa," the South African Foreign Ministry said on Friday. The allegations of discrimination are unfounded. In the past, Trump had accused Pretoria of discriminating against white South Africans.

The South African Foreign Ministry stated that even if there were allegations of discrimination, these were not sufficient to justify classifying its citizens as refugees. The ministry accused the US government of making the move "entirely politically motivated and engineered to challenge South Africa's democratic rule of law."

Land ownership is a sensitive issue in South Africa, as three decades after the end of apartheid, the majority of farmland is still owned by whites, and the government is under pressure to implement reforms. The Land Expropriation Act was signed into law by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in January. It stipulates that the government is not required to pay compensation following state expropriations under certain circumstances. (with AFP)