South Africa arrests, orders deportation of 7 Kenyans linked to U.S. Afrikaner refugee program
JOHANNESBURG — South African authorities have arrested and ordered the deportation of seven Kenyan nationals accused of working illegally at a Johannesburg center that processes refugee applications for a controversial U.S. resettlement program prioritizing white Afrikaners.
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The arrests on Tuesday followed intelligence reports that the Kenyans entered the country on tourist visas and took up employment after South Africa’s Home Affairs Department had previously denied work visa applications for the same roles, officials said.
The Kenyans were working for processing centers operated by Amerikaners, a group led by white South Africans, and RSC Africa, a Kenya-based refugee support organization run by Church World Service. Those organizations handle applications for President Donald Trump’s program, which has brought small numbers of white South Africans to the United States this year.
South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation said the presence of foreign officials coordinating with undocumented workers “raises serious questions about intent and diplomatic protocol” and that it has initiated formal engagements with both the United States and Kenya.
The episode threatens to deepen a worsening diplomatic rupture between Washington and Pretoria as the resettlement effort — framed by the White House as protection for a community facing discrimination — draws condemnation at home and abroad.
Trump launched the policy in February via an executive order titled “Addressing Egregious Actions of The Republic of South Africa,” cutting all U.S. aid to the country and prioritizing Afrikaner refugees. In September, he set a historically low refugee ceiling of 7,500 for 2026, reserving most slots for white South Africans.
Critics say the program is racially selective and out of step with international refugee norms. Scott Lucas, a professor of U.S. and international politics at University College Dublin’s Clinton Institute, previously told Al Jazeera that the contrast between the treatment of white South Africans and refugees of color from other countries showed a “perverse honesty” about Trump’s worldview. “If you’re white and you’ve got connections you get in,” Lucas said. “If you’re not white, forget about it.”
South Africa’s government rejects claims that Afrikaners are persecuted. Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola has said there is no data supporting allegations of systemic discrimination, noting that Afrikaners remain among the country’s most economically privileged citizens.
Major Afrikaner organizations have also pushed back. AfriForum and the Solidarity Movement, which say they represent some 600,000 Afrikaner families, declined the refugee offer, arguing that emigration would mean “sacrificing their descendants’ cultural identity.” The Afrikaner enclave of Orania said: “Afrikaners do not want to be refugees. We love and are committed to our homeland.”
The dispute has accelerated a sharp deterioration in U.S.-South Africa relations this year. Trump expelled South Africa’s ambassador in March, boycotted Johannesburg’s G20 summit in November, and last month excluded South Africa from participating in the 2026 Miami G20 — later calling it “not a country worthy of Membership anywhere” in a social media post. Just a day before Tuesday’s arrests, Pretoria condemned its G20 exclusion as an “affront to multilateralism.”
Tensions flared further after a May White House visit by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, when Trump played a video montage to bolster his claims of persecution. Some images were later verified as originating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and footage of a temporary memorial was falsely described as mass graves, according to fact-checks.
South African officials did not provide a timeline for the deportations of the seven Kenyans. Authorities said the matter remains under investigation. Pretoria has requested clarifications from both Washington and Nairobi as it reviews the operations of refugee-processing entities inside South Africa.
The arrests underscore how the Afrikaner resettlement plan — already criticized for its racial preference and its narrow refugee cap — has become a flashpoint for sovereignty, immigration enforcement and diplomacy in southern Africa. With relations at a low ebb and the program still in its early phases, the fallout is likely to reverberate in the weeks ahead.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
