Trump administration welcomes 59 white South Africans as refugees

The first group of Afrikaners from South Africa to arrive for resettlement listen to remarks from US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and US Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Troy Edgar (both out of frame), after they arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, on May 12, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 13 May 2025
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Trump administration welcomes 59 white South Africans as refugees

  • South Africa’s government says the US allegations that the white minority Afrikaners are being persecuted are “completely false,” the result of misinformation and an inaccurate view of the country

DULLES, Virginia: The Trump administration on Monday welcomed a group of 59 white South Africans as refugees, saying they face discrimination and violence at home, which the country’s government strongly denies.

The decision to admit the Afrikaners also has raised questions from refugee advocates about why they were admitted when the Trump administration has suspended efforts to resettle people fleeing war and persecution who have gone through years of vetting.

Many in the group from South Africa — including toddlers and other small children, even one walking barefoot in pajamas — held small American flags as two officials welcomed them to the United States in an airport hangar outside Washington. The South Africans were then leaving on other flights to various US destinations.

A group of 49 Afrikaners had been expected, but the State Department said Monday that 59 had arrived.

“I want you all to know that you are really welcome here and that we respect what you have had to deal with these last few years,” Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said.

President Donald Trump told reporters earlier Monday that he’s admitting them as refugees because of the “genocide that’s taking place.” He said that in post-apartheid South Africa, white farmers are “being killed” and he plans to address the issue with South African leadership next week.

That characterization has been strongly disputed by South Africa’s government, experts and even the Afrikaner group AfriForum, which says farm attacks are not being taken seriously by the government.

South Africa’s government says the US allegations that the white minority Afrikaners are being persecuted are “completely false,” the result of misinformation and an inaccurate view of the country. It cited the fact that Afrikaners are among the richest and most successful people in the country.

The view from South Africa

Speaking at a business conference in Ivory Coast, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Monday that he spoke with Trump recently and told him his administration had been fed false information by groups who were casting white people as victims because of efforts to right the historical wrongs of colonialism and South Africa’s previous apartheid system of forced racial segregation, which oppressed the Black majority.

“I had a conversation with President Trump on the phone and he asked me, ‘What’s going on down there?’ and I told him that what you are being told by those people who are opposed to transformation back in South Africa is not true,” Ramaphosa said.

Afrikaners make up South Africa’s largest white group and were the leaders of the apartheid government, which brutally enforced racial segregation for nearly 50 years before ending it in 1994. While South Africa has been largely successful in reconciling its many races, tensions between some Black political parties and some Afrikaner groups have remained.

The Trump administration has falsely claimed white South Africans are having their land taken away by the government under a new expropriation law that promotes “racially discriminatory property confiscation.” No land has been expropriated.

Trump has promoted the allegation that white farmers in South Africa are being killed on a large scale as far back as 2018 during his first term.

Conservative commentators have promoted the allegation about a genocide against white farmers, and South African-born Trump ally Elon Musk has posted on social media that some politicians in the country are “actively promoting white genocide.”

South Africa has extremely high levels of violent crime, and white farmers have been killed in rural Afrikaner communities. It has been a problem for decades. The government condemns those killings but says they are part of the country’s problems with crime.

“There is no data at all that backs that there is persecution of white South Africans or white Afrikaners in particular who are farmers,” South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said Monday. “White farmers get affected by crime just like any other South Africans who do get affected by crime. So this is not factual, it is without basis.”

Trump administration says white South Africans have been targeted

Landau said many of those who arrived Monday experienced “threatening invasions of their homes, their farms and a real lack of interest or success of the government in doing anything about this situation.”

They all had met stringent vetting standards, including the ability to assimilate into American culture, Landau said. Critics of the refugee program suggest that refugees aren’t properly vetted, though supporters say they go through some of the strictest vetting of anyone seeking to come to America.

Trump indefinitely suspended the refugee resettlement program — which historically had widespread bipartisan support — on his first day in office. A month later, he announced a plan to resettle white South African farmers and their families as refugees.

Supporters of the refugee program question how the administration can justify admitting this small group while keeping out others from conflict zones around the world.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, called it an effort to “rewrite history.”

“The Administration must clarify why these individuals qualify for refugee status and resettlement in the US and why they have been prioritized over refugees like Afghans, Burmese Rohingya and Sudanese who have fled their homes due to conflict and persecution,” she said in a statement Monday.

Who can come from South Africa under Trump’s order

According to the US Embassy in South Africa, applicants have to be South African citizens who are of Afrikaner ethnicity or a member of a racial minority, and they have to be able to show a history of or a fear of persecution.

Afrikaners, who are the descendants of mainly Dutch and French colonial settlers, number around 2.7 million among South Africa’s population of 62 million, which is more than 80 percent Black.

The US refugee program was created by Congress in 1980, and groups have sued to restart it after Trump’s halt.

Traditionally, to qualify as a refugee, applicants must demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution due to race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. Refugees are distinct from asylum-seekers because refugees must be outside of the US to qualify.

A network of resettlement agencies generally helps refugees settle in their new homes, and they get 90 days of federal assistance for things like rent. The Episcopal Church’s migration service, however, is refusing a directive from the federal government to help resettle the white South Africans, citing the church’s longstanding “commitment to racial justice and reconciliation.”


Spain to airdrop 12 tonnes of food into Gaza Strip

Updated 5 sec ago
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Spain to airdrop 12 tonnes of food into Gaza Strip

  • The Defense Ministry said the 12 tonnes would be delivered in an operation similar to another carried out in March 2024, when Spain delivered 26 tonnes of food

MADRID: Spain said on Monday it would airdrop 12 tonnes of food into Gaza this week as the threat of famine stalks the Palestinian territory after 21 months of war.
The operation is a rare example of a European nation joining Middle Eastern countries in sending aid by air.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, one of the most virulent critics of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, told a news conference the delivery would take place from Jordan on Friday using Spanish air force planes.
“The famine in Gaza is a shame for all of humanity and stopping it, therefore, is a moral imperative,” he said.
The Defense Ministry said the 12 tonnes would be delivered in an operation similar to another carried out in March 2024, when Spain delivered 26 tonnes of food.
The World Health Organization has warned malnutrition in the occupied territory has reached “alarming levels” since Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza.

 


‘No alternative’ to two-state solution for Israel, Palestinians: French FM

Updated 28 July 2025
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‘No alternative’ to two-state solution for Israel, Palestinians: French FM

  • French Foreign Minister said other European countries will confirm ‘their intention to recognize the State of Palestine’ during the UN conference
  • ‘Recognize the state of Palestine without delay,’ Palestinian prime minister urged nations at the start of the meeting

There is “no alternative” to a two-state solution between Israelis and the Palestinians, France told a UN conference co-chaired with Saudi Arabia on Monday.
“Only a political, two-state solution will help respond to the legitimate aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security. There is no alternative,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said at the start of the three-day meeting.
Days before the conference, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he would formally recognize a State of Palestine in September.
In an interview with French weekly La Tribune Dimanche, Barrot said that other European countries will confirm “their intention to recognize the State of Palestine” during the conference, without confirming which.
“All states have a responsibility to act now,” said Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Mustafa at the start of the meeting, calling for an international force to help underwrite Palestinian statehood.
“Recognize the state of Palestine without delay.”
France is hoping that Britain will take this step. More than 200 British members of parliament on Friday voiced support for the idea, but Prime Minister Keir Starmer reiterated that recognition of a Palestinian state “must be part of a wider plan.”
The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the meeting “the two-State solution is farther than ever before,” decrying Israel’s “creeping annexation” of the occupied West Bank and “the wholesale destruction of Gaza.”
According to an AFP database, at least 142 of the 193 UN member states — including France — now recognize the Palestinian state proclaimed by the Palestinian leadership in exile in 1988.
In 1947, a resolution of the UN General Assembly decided on the partition of Palestine, then under a British mandate, into two independent states — one Jewish and the other Arab. The following year, the state of Israel was proclaimed.
For several decades, the vast majority of UN member states have supported the idea of a two-state solution, which would see Israel and a Palestinian state existing side-by-side.
But after more than 21 months of war in Gaza, the ongoing expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and Israeli officials declaring designs to annex occupied territory, it is feared a Palestinian state could become geographically impossible.
The current war in Gaza started following a deadly attack by Hamas on Israel, which responded with a large-scale military response that has claimed tens of thousands of Palestinian lives and destroyed most basic infrastructure in the enclave.
This week’s conference comes at a moment when “the prospect of a Palestinian state has never been so threatened, or so necessary,” Barrot said.
Jordanian FM: ‘stop Israeli unilateral actions’
Beyond facilitating conditions for the recognition of a Palestinian state, the meeting will focus on three other issues — reform of the Palestinian Authority, disarmament of Hamas and its exclusion from Palestinian public life, and normalization of relations with Israel by Arab states.
However, no new normalization deals are expected to be announced at the meeting, according to a French diplomatic source.
On the other hand, “for the first time, Arab countries will condemn Hamas and call for its disarmament,” Barrot said.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said “we’ve got to act to stop Israeli unilateral actions that undermine the two-state solution, including settlements, land confiscation, encroachments on the holy sites and attempts to change the demographic composition of the West Bank and Gaza.”
Israel and the United States were not taking part in the meeting, amid growing international pressure on Israel to end nearly two years of war in Gaza.
Despite “tactical pauses” in some military operations announced by Israel, the humanitarian catastrophe in the ravaged coastal territory is expected to dominate speeches by representatives of more than 100 countries as they take the podium.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said “this conference does not promote a solution, but rather deepens the illusion.”
Bruno Stagno, chief advocacy officer at Human Rights Watch, said “more platitudes about a two-state solution and peace process will do nothing to advance the conference’s goals, nor to halt the extermination of Palestinians in Gaza.”


Trump meets Starmer and disagrees with Netanyahu’s claim of no starvation in Gaza

Updated 28 July 2025
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Trump meets Starmer and disagrees with Netanyahu’s claim of no starvation in Gaza

  • Trump said he disagreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that there was no starvation in Gaza
  • Gaza’s Health Ministry said Monday that 14 Palestinians including two children have died of malnutrition-related causes in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours

LONDON: Israeli strikes killed at least 34 Palestinians before US President Donald Trump met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday in Scotland, where they confirmed plans to discuss Gaza.

A day after Israel eased aid restrictions due to a worsening humanitarian crisis, Trump said he disagreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that there was no starvation in Gaza.

Israel on Sunday announced a pause in military operations in certain areas for 10 hours daily to improve aid flow. Alongside the measures, military operations continued. Israel had no immediate comment about the latest strikes, which occurred outside the declared time frame for the pause between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Aid agencies welcomed the new measures but say they are insufficient. Images of emaciated children have sparked global outrage. Most of Gaza’s population now relies on aid and accessing food has become increasingly dangerous.

Starmer’s spokesman, Dave Pares, said Britain supports Trump’s efforts to reach a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, and the plan aims “to turn a ceasefire into lasting peace.”

The plan was discussed by Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday. Starmer will discuss it with allies “including the US and Arab states” and at an emergency meeting of his Cabinet later this week, Pares said.

Details of the plan have not been made public.

Fourteen Palestinians have died of malnutrition-related causes in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, the territory’s Health Ministry said on Monday.

They include two children, bringing the total deaths among children from causes related to malnutrition in Gaza to 88 since the war started on Oct. 7, 2023, the ministry said In a statement.

The ministry said 59 Palestinian adults also have died of malnutrition-related causes across Gaza since the start of July, when it began counting deaths among adults.


French PM slams EU-US trade deal as ‘submission’

Updated 28 July 2025
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French PM slams EU-US trade deal as ‘submission’

  • French President Emmanuel Macron did not immediately react Monday to the high-stakes agreement, which drew wider criticism across much of the French political spectrum

PARIS: French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Monday slammed a weekend trade deal between the United States and the European Union as a “dark day” and tantamount to “submission,” as other politicians poured vitriol on the deal.
“It is a dark day when an alliance of free peoples, united to affirm their values and defend their interests, resorts to submission,” said Bayrou in a post on X of the accord thrashed out Sunday.
US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen struck the deal, which fixed a baseline tariff of 15 percent on EU exports to the US.
French President Emmanuel Macron did not immediately react Monday to the high-stakes agreement, which drew wider criticism across much of the French political spectrum
Stock markets rose in Europe and Asia on hopes the agreement can avert a potentially damaging trade war.
But many French politicians were not convinced.
“Ursula von der Leyen accepted yesterday the commercial surrender of Europe, to the detriment of our exporters, farmers, and industrialists,” Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right National Rally, wrote on X.
The day before, Bardella’s party colleague and three-time presidential candidate Marine Le Pen had criticized the deal as “a political, economic and moral fiasco.”
“This is a defeat for the European Commission, which failed to create the power dynamics needed properly to defend European interests,” said Pieyre-Alexandre Anglade, a Macron ally in parliament and president of the National Assembly’s European Affairs Committee.
Anglade blasted what he said was a “signal of weakness” sent “to our competitors (and) we must fight to reverse the situation.”
A Bayrou ally in his Democratic Movement, lawmaker Philippe Latombe, said on X he “deeply regrets” a deal which “while it certainly avoids a trade war, comes at the cost of culpable subservience, a mortgage on our future, and the sacrifice of entire sectors of our sovereignty. It’s a bad deal, except for Trump.”
On Sunday, the Socialist Party said the EU appeared cast as a US “vassal” while far-left France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said France’s choice was one of “non-submission to the (US) Empire and non-alignment.”
The French finance ministry told AFP Finance Minister Eric Lombard and Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot would Wednesday discuss “consequences” of the deal with major French economic players.


Palau lawmakers reject US request to accept third country refugees

Updated 28 July 2025
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Palau lawmakers reject US request to accept third country refugees

  • Palau, with a population of 17,000, has a compact of free association with the United States providing economic assistance in return for allowing the US military access to its territory
  • A letter signed by Senate President Hokkon Boules and House of Delegates speaker Gibson Kanai said the congress strongly supports Palau’s partnership with the US, but “cannot accept this specific proposal”

SYDNEY: The national congress of Palau has said it “cannot accept” a United States proposal for the Pacific Islands nation to accept asylum seekers from third countries, as its president holds annual funding talks in Washington.
Palau’s national congress wrote to President Surangel Whipps Jr. earlier this month urging him to reject the request by the Trump Administration.
A letter signed by Senate President Hokkon Boules and House of Delegates speaker Gibson Kanai, viewed by Reuters, said the congress strongly supports Palau’s partnership with the United States, but “cannot accept this specific proposal.”
Palau, with a population of 17,000, has a compact of free association with the United States providing economic assistance in return for allowing the US military access to its territory.
“We advise against proceeding further on this matter only because of the practical issues that the introduction of refugees would raise in our society,” said the letter, dated July 21.
Whipps Jr. briefed Palau’s national congress and council of chiefs about the request on July 18, the Palau president’s office said in a statement at the time.
The proposed agreement gave Palau the right to accept or decline each individual referred by the US, the office said.
The US Ambassador to Palau, Joel Ehrendreich told the meeting Palau would not be a processing center like Nauru under Australia’s offshore asylum policy, but would be considered a “safe third country,” and financial assistance would be offered, Palau’s Island Times reported.
Whipps Jr. is in Washington for annual talks about economic assistance, his office said.
“We anticipate there will be additional discussion held with local leadership,” a spokeswoman told Reuters.
Palau was one of the few states to avoid any US tariffs in April.
On July 15, the United States said a deportation flight from the US carrying immigrants from different countries landed in Eswatini in southern Africa, a move that followed the US Supreme Court lifting limits on the Trump Administration’s policy to deport migrants to third countries.
Palau is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.
A spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Palau said it had no comment on the letter.
Human rights advocates have raised due process and other concerns over Trump’s immigration policies that his administration has cast as measures aimed at improving domestic security.