JOHANNESBURG – South African authorities raided a US refugee processing facility in Johannesburg on Tuesday, arresting seven Kenyan nationals working on applications for white Afrikaner refugees and briefly detaining American staff members in an incident that has further strained diplomatic relations between Washington and Pretoria.
International news agency AFP reported this morning that the seven Kenyans were found “engaging in work despite only being in possession of tourist visas, in clear violation of their conditions of entry into the country.” This according to a statement from South Africa’s Home Affairs Department.
The workers have been issued deportation orders and will be banned from re-entering South Africa for five years.
The incident is expected to escalate tensions between the Trump administration and South African officials, who have repeatedly rejected US claims that the country’s white minority faces systematic discrimination.
The processing centre is suspected to be part of a controversial initiative launched by Trump, who earlier this year set the lowest refugee cap in US history at 7,500 slots, with the majority designated specifically for white South Africans. The decision has drawn sharp criticism from refugee advocates who argue it represents a misuse of the US refugee program, which traditionally assists people of all races facing persecution.
Trump has repeatedly expressed concern for South Africa’s white minority, claiming in May that white farmers face “genocide.” In setting the refugee allocation, Trump directed that admissions “shall primarily be allocated among Afrikaners from South Africa” who face “illegal or unjust discrimination” – a standard that differs from the traditional requirement of fleeing conflict, violence, or persecution.
South Africa’s government has consistently denied Trump’s characterisations of conditions for the white minority, calling such claims “completely false.”
In May this year the first 50 Afrikaner refugees landed in the US on a chartered flight, with others reportedly following in smaller numbers on commercial flights. It is unknown exactly how many Afrikaner refugees have thus far arrived in the US.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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