A second group of white South Africans, or Afrikaners, has arrived in the United States under a refugee program announced by the Trump administration on Monday, according to officials.
The group— consisting of nine people, including families—arrived late last week in a commercial flight to Atlanta, said Jaco Kleynhans, head of international liaison at the Solidarity Movement, says AP.
The Trump administration said it is offering refugee status to white South Africans it alleges are being persecuted by their black-led government and are victims of racially motivated violence.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has denied the allegations and said the relatively small number of attacks on white farmers are part of South Africa’s larger problems with violent crime, which affects all races, after being confronted by Trump in a meeting at the White House last month.
The Trump administration initially said the refugee program was aimed at members of South Africa’s Afrikaner minority, however, in new guidance published by the US Embassy last month, applicants must be “able to articulate a past experience of persecution or fear of future persecution.”
While US officials have not said how many South Africans have applied to be relocated, Kleynhans said there have been around 8,000 applications.
After the Trump administration fast-tracked the resettlement of white South Africans after indefinitely suspending other US refugee programs, an initial group of 59 white South Africans arrived in Virginia on a chartered flight last month.
There are approximately 2.7 million Afrikaners, who are descendants of mainly Dutch and French colonial settlers, among South Africa’s population of 62 million, which is more than 80% black. They are not the only white minority. There are around 4.5 million whites in total, including those with British or other heritage.