Afrikaner refugees will arrive in Twin Falls by the end of the week. They’re part of the first group of white South Africans granted refugee status in the U.S. following an order by the Trump administration to expedite their arrival.
The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, one of many nonprofits tasked with resettling refugees in the country, will help nine Afrikaners from two families resettle in Twin Falls. The USCRI, which operates nationwide, will help five other white Afrikaners resettle in Iowa and North Carolina.
About two dozen more will be resettled by other agencies across the U.S. This comes as President Trump has frozen indefinitely all other refugee resettlement in Idaho and across the country.
The agency’s Twin Falls branch will assist the newcomers with case management, housing and employment for their first four months in the country.
“Once they're here, we work very closely with them to provide services, including employment, and ensure their self-sufficiency so they can move on with their life and become a contributing member of our community,” said Chandra Upreti, the Director of the USCRI branch in Twin Falls.
“As the director of the refugee center, I'm dedicated to offering the same services that we have received when we came as a refugee,” Chandra Upreti in Twin Falls.
“We have resettled over 400,000 refugees since 1980 and we will continue to resettle not just the Afrikaners but other refugees the administration wishes to bring, ”said Eskinder Negash, the CEO of USCRI nationwide.
“The decision of where [refugees] go, ‘How many? From which country?’ is exclusively the government's decision,” Negash said.
“We have been welcoming refugees and immigrants for Over 100 years and will continue to do that,” he said.
Refugees are vetted at the federal level and the State Department assigns them to local agencies. Some are resettled near family members or a pre-existing support system. Others are sent where agencies have capacity. USCRI says they do not know yet why the two families headed to Twin Falls are being sent to Idaho.
“We just receive folks that the government has decided to bring in and provide the services to them, just like any other refugees,” Upreti explained.
While Afrikaners’ arrival is expedited, other refugees remain in limbo
But all other refugee resettlement has stopped following the Jan. 20 suspension of the U.S. refugee program. The U.S. granting refugee status to white descendants of mostly Dutch colonizers of South Africa is unprecedented.
In a statement, the Idaho Office of Refugees said the pause “has been devastating for Idahoans and for those overseas waiting.”
“People who have waited years and finally had approval and flight dates to resettle, some to reunite with family, remain in dangerous limbo,” the agency wrote.
“[The Afrikaners] resettlement is being facilitated through the Preferred Communities GAPS program for refugees,” the IOR explained. The Department of Health and Human Services’ website says the program serves "populations with challenging needs that require special attention, including those with serious medical conditions, women at risk, and elderly refugees.”
In February, Upreti’s office was getting ready to resettle 40 refugees in southern Idaho, coming from countries like Sudan, Eritrea and Afghanistan. Their flights, and those of 12 000 other refugees who had been approved, were cancelled after Trump’s executive order put their arrival in the U.S. on hold indefinitely.
“It's our hope that refugees from all over the world, different parts of the world that are waiting for the process, would be also able to come to Twin Falls and be able to reunite with their loved ones,” Upreti said.
Upreti added a few refugees reached out to him after hearing the news Afrikaners were arriving in Idaho, asking if that meant their family members’ admission process would soon be resumed. Just like other resettlement agencies, USCRI does not have answers to these questions.
Experts point out it typically takes years for refugees to be vetted, let alone be approved for resettlement. It’s unusual these Afrikaners’ applications were expedited and flights were booked in a matter of weeks.
For his part, Chandra Upreti said it’s an honor to help new refugees. He was born in Bhutan and fled to Nepal. He came to the U.S. as a refugee in 2008.
“My wife and I both grew up in a refugee camp with no country to call our own until we resettled here in Twin Falls. And, today we're very proud to call Twin Falls our home,” he said. “As the director of the refugee center, I'm dedicated to offering the same services that we have received when we came as a refugee.”
Following Trump’s executive order pausing the resettlement program, the USCRI had to lay off over 400 employees nationwide, including more than half a dozen in the Twin Falls office.
