They are part
of 8,000 who will be resettled within the next few months, according to Jaco
Kleynhans, head of Public Relations for trade union Solidarity.
Last month the
first group of more than 49 white South African Afrikaners landed in the United
States after a private plane was chartered for them.
This after
Trump in February issued an executive order where Washington cited the
Expropriation Act 13 of 2024 as one that enables the persecution of Afrikaners.
Kleynhans said
the second group departed on a commercial flight on Thursday that landed in
Atlanta in the US on Friday.
“It is a
smaller group, including children. Several more groups will fly to the USA over
the next few weeks. The US Embassy in Pretoria, in collaboration with the State
Department in Washington DC, is currently processing 8,000 applications, and we
expect many more Afrikaner refugees to travel to the USA over the next few
months.
"They are
settling in states across the USA, but particularly southern states such as
Texas, North and South Carolina, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska,” Kleynhans
said.
Reports
indicate that the US embassy in South Africa is aware that 'refugees continue
to arrive in the United States from South Africa on commercial flights as part
of the Afrikaner resettlement programme's ongoing operations'.
Solidarity said
it has helped some people understand the application process better and
referred them to the right people at the US embassy. They have also assisted
the US government in determining the criteria for Afrikaner refugee status.
“Our primary
focus is not refugee status for Afrikaners, but rather to find ways to ensure a
free, safe, and prosperous future for Afrikaners in South Africa. We remain
100% convinced that South Africa can and must create a home for all its
people,” Kleynhans said.
He added that
at least 20% of Afrikaners have already left the country 'because if they
stayed, they would have been unemployed'.
Kleynhans said
he was campaigning in at least ten countries to increase international pressure
on the SA government in the run-up to the G20 summit.
On criticism
that this refugee path is politically motivated, Kleynhans said: “The American
refugee programs are paid for by American taxpayers and it is outrageous that
international organisations and foreign groups think they can dictate to the
Trump administration who should be eligible for refugee status. If Americans
disagree with Trump on this, they can elect a different president in three
years." IOL
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