First group of white South Africans arrive in US after being granted refugee status

Refugee groups have criticised the Trump administration for prioritising Afrikaners, a white ethnic minority, over people in greater need.

A group of 49 white South Africans have become the first beneficiaries of a controversial US refugee programme. The Afrikaners, who included families with small children, left South Africa on Sunday on a chartered plane bound for the US, a spokesperson for the South African transport ministry confirmed. They were due to arrive at Dulles International Airport outside Washington on Monday morning, following a layover in Dakar, Senegal. The Trump administration has upended US refugee admissions policy, with the result that virtually all people fleeing famine and war in countries such as Sudan no longer have a chance of resettlement there.However, it has made an exception for Afrikaners, a white ethnic minority that created and implemented South Africa's brutal apartheid system, which lasted from the late 1940s until the early 1990s. Human rights groups and refugee experts have criticised the decision, saying that, unlike other groups, the Afrikaners are not vulnerable. Trump and his allies have claimed that they face racial discrimination from the country's government. The South African government has strongly denied the suggestion. "We reiterate that allegations of discrimination are unfounded," the ministry of interior relations said on Friday. "It is most regrettable that it appears that the resettlement of South Africans to the United States under the guise of being 'refugees' is entirely politically motivated and designed to question South Africa’s constitutional democracy," the ministry added. The Trump administration noted that the resettlement of the 49 South Africans was just the beginning of the programme.White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said the flight marked the start of a "much larger-scale relocation effort." "This is persecution based on a protected characteristic — in this case, race. This is race-based persecution," he claimed. The Afrikaners, who are the descendants of European settlers, are expected to be offered support with things like housing, groceries and clothing in the US. The Trump administration has criticised South Africa on other fronts, including the genocide case it brought against Israel at the International Court of Justice over its war in Gaza. The White House cited it as an example of the African country taking "aggressive positions towards the United States."