CAPE TOWN – The USA Embassy in South Africa stated Thursday it obtained a listing of practically 70,000 individuals interested in refugee status in the U.S. below President Donald Trump’s plan to relocate members of a white minority group he claims are victims of racial discrimination by their Black-led authorities.
The listing was given to the embassy by the South African Chamber of Commerce within the U.S., which stated it grew to become a degree of contact for white South Africans asking about this system introduced by the Trump administration final month. The chamber stated the listing doesn’t represent official purposes.
Trump issued an executive order on Feb. 7 slicing U.S. funding to South Africa and citing “authorities actions fueling disproportionate violence in opposition to racially disfavored landowners.”
Trump’s govt order particularly referred to Afrikaners, a white minority group who’re descendants of primarily Dutch and French colonial settlers who first got here to South Africa within the seventeenth century. The order directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Safety Kristi Noem to prioritize humanitarian aid to Afrikaners who’re victims of “unjust racial discrimination” and resettle them within the U.S. below the refugee program.
There are roughly 2.7 million Afrikaners in South Africa, which has a inhabitants of 62 million. Trump’s resolution to supply some white South Africans refugee standing went in opposition to his bigger coverage to halt the U.S. refugee resettlement program.
The South African government has stated that Trump’s allegations that it’s focusing on Afrikaners through a land expropriation law are inaccurate and largely pushed by misinformation. Trump has posted on his Reality Social platform that Afrikaners had been having their farmland seized, when no land has been taken below the brand new regulation.
The manager order additionally criticized South Africa’s international coverage, particularly its resolution to accuse Israel of genocide in opposition to Palestinians in Gaza in a case on the United Nations’ prime court docket. The Trump administration has accused South Africa of supporting the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Iran and taking an anti-American stance. The U.S. has additionally expelled the South African ambassador, accusing him of being anti-America and anti-Trump.
An official on the U.S. Embassy within the South African capital, Pretoria, confirmed receipt of the listing of names from the South African Chamber of Commerce within the U.S. however gave no extra element.
Neil Diamond, the president of the chamber, stated the listing accommodates 67,042 names. Most had been individuals between 25 and 45 years outdated and have youngsters.
He instructed the Newzroom Afrika tv channel that his group had been inundated with requests for extra data since Trump’s order and had contacted the State Division and the embassy in Pretoria “to point that we wish them to make a channel obtainable for South Africans that want to get extra data and register for refugee standing.”
“That can’t be the duty of the chamber,” he stated.
Diamond stated solely U.S. authorities might formally register purposes for resettlement within the U.S. The U.S. Embassy in South Africa stated it’s awaiting additional directions on the implementation of Trump’s order.
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AP Africa information: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
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