The first group of Afrikaners granted refugee status in the U.S. have arrived in the country. On Monday, the white descendants of mostly Dutch colonizers of South Africa flew into Washington DC on a chartered plane.
Among them were two families headed to Idaho for resettlement.
The local chapter of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) will help nine refugees settle in Twin Falls. Their arrival was expedited after the Trump administration classified Afrikaners as refugees for the first time back in February. The president’s executive order came a few weeks after he halted all other refugee admissions.
Boise State University Global Studies professor Lisa Meierotto said the Afrikaners’ fast tracked arrival is unusual.
“Chartering the airplane and making those travel plans happen so fast is really different than the typical process that we've seen,” she said.
Refugees usually have to flee their home and apply for refugee status from a secondary country, often waiting up to eight years to be vetted.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services defines a refugee as someone who “demonstrates that they were persecuted or fear persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.”
“You have to make that argument that your life would be very much in danger were you to go home,” Meierotto explained.
Trump's pause on admissions left 12,000 already approved refugees in limbo.
“In some cases [they] were getting ready to board a plane, to come to the U.S.” Meierotto said, adding many were family reunifications.
USCRI welcomes new refugees as they arrive, provides furnished housing and case management, while helping them access social services and benefits.
In a statement, USCRI CEO Eskinder Negash said the organization had been providing services for refugees for over 100 years, and would continue regardless of the country of origin.
“We are hopeful that the arrival of this group of refugees indicates the government’s intention to restart the U.S. refugee program and help other refugees in need of resettlement services,” he wrote.
