South Africa to deport Kenyans involved in US-Afrikaner refugee scheme

Foreign nationals arrested for illegally processing applications nether Trump’s contentious programme for achromatic South Africans.

South Africa has arrested and ordered the deportation of 7 Kenyan nationals who were illegally moving astatine a centre processing exile applications for a highly arguable United States resettlement programme aimed astatine lone achromatic Afrikaners.

The arrests connected Tuesday successful Johannesburg followed quality reports that the Kenyans had entered the state connected tourer visas and taken up employment contempt South Africa’s Home Affairs Department having antecedently denied enactment visa applications for the aforesaid positions.

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The 7 individuals volition beryllium banned from re-entering South Africa for 5 years.

The cognition has led to a caller diplomatic quality betwixt Pretoria and Washington, adding to tensions that person escalated passim 2025 implicit US President Donald Trump’s wide rejected claims that achromatic South Africans look “genocide” and radical persecution.

The US State Department told CNN that “interfering successful our exile operations is unacceptable” and said it would question contiguous clarification.

CNN reported that 2 US authorities employees were concisely detained during the raid, though South Africa’s connection said nary American officials were arrested.

The Kenyans were moving for processing centres tally by Amerikaners, a radical led by achromatic South Africans, and RSC Africa, a Kenya-based exile enactment organisation operated by Church World Service. These organisations grip applications for Trump’s programme, which has brought tiny numbers of achromatic South Africans to the US this year.

South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation said the beingness of overseas officials coordinating with undocumented workers “raises superior questions astir intent and diplomatic protocol” and has initiated ceremonial engagements with some the US and Kenya.

‘If you’re not white, hide astir it’

Trump launched the resettlement programme successful February done an enforcement bid titled “Addressing Egregious Actions of The Republic of South Africa”, cutting each US assistance and prioritising Afrikaner refugees who helium claims look government-sponsored discrimination.

In September, helium acceptable a historical debased exile ceiling of 7,500 for 2026, with astir spots reserved for achromatic South Africans.

Scott Lucas, a prof of US and planetary authorities astatine University College Dublin’s Clinton Institute, antecedently told Al Jazeera the opposition betwixt however Trump treats achromatic South African refugees, and refugees of colour from different countries, showed a “perverse honesty” astir Trump’s behaviour and worldview.

“If you’re achromatic and you’ve got connections you get in,” Lucas said. “If you’re not white, hide astir it.”

South Africa’s authorities powerfully rejects the persecution allegations.

Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola has said determination is nary information supporting claims of achromatic persecution, noting that Afrikaners are among the country’s “most economically privileged” citizens.

Major Afrikaner organisations besides rejected Trump’s characterisation.

AfriForum and the Solidarity Movement, representing immoderate 600,000 Afrikaner families, declined his exile offer, saying emigration would mean “sacrificing their descendants’ taste identity”.

The Afrikaner enclave of Orania said: “Afrikaners bash not privation to beryllium refugees. We emotion and are committed to our homeland.”

Deteriorating relations

Trump has repeatedly presented debunked grounds to enactment his claims, including a choreographed and televised ambush of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during a White House visit.

Trump played video successful May featuring images aboriginal verified arsenic being from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and footage of a impermanent memorial that Trump falsely claimed showed wide graves.

Relations betwixt the countries person deteriorated sharply this year.

Trump expelled South Africa’s ambassador successful March, boycotted Johannesburg’s G20 acme successful November, and past period excluded South Africa from participating successful the 2026 Miami G20, calling it “not a state worthy of Membership anywhere” successful a societal media post.

Just 1 time earlier the arrests, South Africa condemned its G20 exclusion arsenic an “affront to multilateralism”.