Two contradictory events this week illustrate the muddled, inconsistent mess that passes for U.S. immigration policy.
On Monday, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau personally welcomed almost 60 white South Africans claiming refugee status to the United States. President Donald Trump has justified their admission by claiming that Afrikaners, descendants of white colonial settlers, face genocide in the majority Black country. That is false.
That same day, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that temporary protected status for Afghan nationals in this country will be allowed to expire on May 20. Unless they have a separate immigration status that allows them to remain, Afghan nationals will be subject to deportation starting July 12.
It is impossible to defend the first event. The second just looks cruel when juxtaposed against the first.
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a refugee is someone who “demonstrates that they were persecuted or fear persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.”
Applicants undergo extensive vetting in a third country before being allowed into the United States.
The Trump administration suspended refugee admissions in January, and the moratorium remains in force. But for some reason, Trump has made an exception for Afrikaners, who come from a country not enduring a civil or cross-border war.
Afrikaners are a small minority in South Africa, about 7% of the population. Their forebears enforced an oppressive system of racial segregation called apartheid, which ended in 1991.
Three decades later, Afrikaners still own a disproportionate share of the nation’s farmland. Race-related violence happens — just as it does here — but that is crime, not genocide.
Trump also argues Afrikaners deserve refugee status because of a new law that he said allows the South African government to seize white farmers’ land without paying for it. The “expropriation” law Trump referenced actually resembles eminent domain laws in this country.
Meanwhile, people fleeing widespread war, rape or famine in places like Myanmar and South Sudan languish in third countries. At least 25,000 Afghan refugees, whose prior relationship with the U.S. puts them at risk in their homeland, remain stranded in third countries, said Shawn VanDiver, a U.S. Navy veteran and president of AfghanEvac. Another 50,000 have yet to escape Afghanistan.
Afrikaners should be able to apply for refugee status, but they shouldn’t receive special treatment, as this first group did. These Afrikaners didn’t have to flee to a third country before they applied. The vetting process, which often takes two years, went at light speed for them. Trump made Afrikaners eligible for refugee status in February and Afrikaner refugees arrived in May. The administration warped the process to favor them.
In contrast, by declining to extend TPS for Afghan nationals, the administration is saying that Afghanistan is safe for returning nationals. It isn’t. In fact, one organization Noem cited to defend ending TPS shows that Afghanistan is more dangerous than South Africa.
These decisions do not align with or promote American interests or values, and only erode respect for this nation’s leadership in the world.
