‘It’s not honest’: Other refugees in limbo as US welcomes white South Africans

A person slept exterior in a parking lot in a single day in Kenya along with his spouse and toddler son in January, consumed by confusion and disbelief.

The household, refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), had been anticipating a flight to the US for resettlement in simply hours’ time.

But after US President Donald Trump suspended the US refugee programme simply two days earlier than the household’s scheduled departure, the person was instructed their flight to America was abruptly cancelled – lower than 24 hours earlier than take-off.

“I did not have wherever else to go,” the person, who requested to go by the identify of Pacito to guard his identification, instructed the BBC.

He had already moved his household from their residence, offered his furnishings and most of their belongings, and ready for a brand new life in America. They stay in Kenya, which is a safer prospect than the DRC, the place they fled battle.

They symbolize simply three of the roughly 120,000 refugees who had been conditionally authorized to enter the US, however who now wait in limbo because of the refugee pause.

Trump’s transfer signalled a serious change within the method that was adopted by successive US leaders. Under former President Joe Biden, over 100,000 refugees got here to the US in 2024 – the very best annual determine in almost three a long time.

Since getting into workplace in January, Trump has moved shortly to ship on his marketing campaign promise of an “America first” agenda that has concerned dramatically proscribing routes by which migrants can come to the US.

The effort has additionally included an bold deportation programme below which individuals have been deported to a infamous mega-prison in El Salvador towards a choose’s orders, in addition to revoking visas from over a thousand college college students, and providing unlawful immigrants a sum of $1,000 every to “self-deport”.

The White House has defended its actions by suggesting that a lot of these being compelled from the nation are both violent criminals or threaten America’s pursuits.

But exceptions to the insurance policies have been made for a choose few.

The president signed an government order in February that opened the refugee pathway solely to Afrikaners – white South Africans who he claimed have been victims of “racial discrimination”.

A aircraft carrying 59 of them landed at an airport simply exterior Washington DC earlier this month, in a ceremonious greeting that included the deputy secretary of state.

“It’s not honest,” Pacito commented. “There are 120,000 refugees who went via the entire course of, the vetting, the safety, the medical screenings. We’ve waited for years, however now these (Afrikaners) are simply processed in like three months.”

The state of affairs has left Pacito feeling caught. Since he has offered all the gear that he wanted to work in his area of music manufacturing, for the previous few months he has struggled to seek out odd jobs to earn cash for his household. “It’s type of onerous,” he stated.

Trump has additional justified his resolution to simply accept Afrikaners as refugees within the US as a result of he says they face “a genocide” – a message that has been echoed by Elon Musk, his South African-born shut ally.

Such claims have circulated for years, although are extensively discredited, and have been denied by South Africa.

However, the decision has taken on new animus – significantly amongst right-wing teams within the US – ever since a legislation was handed in South Africa in January that allowed the federal government to grab land from white landowners “when it’s simply and equitable and within the public curiosity”. The post-apartheid-era legislation was meant to handle frustrations round South Africa’s disproportionate land possession; the nation’s white inhabitants is roughly 7% however owns roughly 72% of farmland.

Though South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has stated no land has been taken below the brand new legislation, days after it was handed, Trump ordered the US to freeze a whole lot of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in help to the nation. A diplomatic feud adopted.

The fraying relationship was laid naked on Wednesday throughout a tense White House assembly between the pair. Trump ambushed Ramaphosa on dwell TV with claims of white “persecution” – an allegation Ramaphosa emphatically rejected.

Analysts have described the broader overseas coverage of Trump’s second time period as isolationist, with quite a few strikes made to chop overseas help and to disentangle the US from overseas conflicts, along with decreasing immigration.

Trump has additionally terminated tens of billions of {dollars} in international help contracts – together with funds that supported lifesaving HIV/Aids programmes in South Africa. He has justified the cuts by saying his group recognized fraud throughout the help spending.

The strikes seem in stark distinction to the White House’s resolution to fast-track the arrival of white South Africans – a undeniable fact that has been critiqued by refugee advocacy teams.

“Every case of safety ought to be primarily based on credible proof of persecution, and the central query right here is about equity and equal therapy below the legislation,” Timothy Young from the non-profit organisation Global Refuge instructed the BBC.

“So if one group can entry humanitarian pathways, then so ought to Afghan allies, persecuted spiritual minorities and the 1000’s of different households who face severe threats and who meet the authorized standards for refugee standing,” Mr Young stated.

Among its different strikes, the Trump administration has chosen to not renew the non permanent protected standing for Afghans within the US, saying “Afghanistan has had an improved safety state of affairs” and a “stabilising economic system”. They now face deportation.

South Africa doesn’t launch crime figures primarily based on race, however the newest figures revealed that 6,953 folks have been murdered within the nation between October and December 2024.

Of these, 12 have been killed in farm assaults. Of the 12, one was a farmer, normally white, whereas 5 have been farm dwellers and 4 have been workers, who have been more likely to have been black.

Meanwhile, within the DRC, 1000’s of civilians have been killed by armed militias in recent times, and almost 100,000 extra displaced, based on UN figures.

Pacito fled the DRC on foot in 2016, recalling “weapons in every single place I regarded” on the time, and “no peace”. He stated relations of his spouse had been killed.

Among the others who see the US as an more and more unlikely place to resettle as refugees is the Hammad household, who’re from Gaza however at the moment are dwelling in Egypt.

“After what occurred with Trump, I believe it is going to be unattainable,” Amjad Hammad instructed the BBC.

He and his household had utilized for the US’s inexperienced card lottery in 2024 however discovered in May they’d been denied.

He expressed confusion about Trump’s concern for the plight of white South Africans over and above different teams.

“What are the Palestinians dealing with, if the folks in South Africa are dealing with a genocide?” he requested.

More than 53,000 folks have been killed throughout Gaza since 7 October 2023, when Israel launched a marketing campaign to destroy Hamas – the Palestinian armed group that launched a cross-border assault on southern Israel by which about 1,200 folks have been killed and 251 others have been taken hostage.

The confusion voiced by Mr Hammad is much like the views of Pacito, whose hopes of resettling within the US have been dashed in January.

Since then, he has been left successfully homeless in Nairobi, drifting from place to put to wherever somebody will settle for him and his household for a couple of days.

“Sometimes we get meals. Sometimes we do not,” he stated. “We’ve been struggling very badly.”

The coverage modifications on the US aspect give him little hope that he will probably be accepted by Trump, however the various of heading again throughout Africa to his residence nation is unimaginable. “I am unable to return,” he stated.