South Africa has detained and moved to deport seven Kenyan nationals it says were working without permits at a facility processing refugee applications from white South Africans, intensifying a diplomatic row with the United States.
South African authorities said intelligence reports showed people “had recently entered South Africa on tourist visas and had illegally taken up work” at the centre. The seven Kenyans were arrested, denied work visas and are to be deported with a five-year ban on re-entry, officials said.
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“They had previously been denied work visas but were found engaging in work despite only having tourist visas, in clear violation of their conditions of entry into the country,” South African authorities said. Authorities also said no U.S. officials were arrested and that the operation was not conducted at a diplomatic site.
Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber confirmed the seven Kenyan nationals have since self-deported, saying in a statement that they had left South Africa voluntarily following the immigration action.
The United States responded by accusing South Africa of interfering in its refugee operations. The dispute comes after U.S. authorities announced a pathway for certain white South Africans — principally Afrikaners — to seek asylum, saying the community faces persecution in South Africa. Pretoria has rejected those claims.
The confrontation underscores a rare public spat between the two governments over refugee processing and the handling of foreign staff at facilities providing assistance. South African officials said the arrests were enforcement of domestic immigration law rather than an action directed at U.S. personnel or facilities.
U.S. officials have argued that their refugee and asylum operations should not be impeded. The United States has not said any of its staff were detained in connection with the incident, and South African authorities reiterated the work was carried out by private foreign nationals who did not hold appropriate permits.
The case is likely to complicate diplomatic engagement on migration and asylum issues between the allies. South Africa has been sensitive to international scrutiny over race and security after a broader controversy surrounding U.S. offers of asylum to some white South Africans. Pretoria has dismissed the U.S. designation of persecution as unfounded and warned against what it calls interference in domestic affairs.
Officials on both sides have so far limited public comment. South Africa’s Home Affairs ministry framed the action as routine enforcement of entry conditions and visa rules, while U.S. authorities characterized South Africa’s move as interference in their refugee processing activities.
For now, the immediate outcome is the departure of the seven Kenyan nationals and the maintenance of a five-year re-entry ban; the broader diplomatic tensions over U.S. asylum offers to Afrikaners remain unresolved.
By News-room
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
