The White House on Tuesday questioned the humanitarian commitment of the Episcopal Church after it refused to comply with a federal directive to help resettle South Africans granted refugee status by US President Donald Trump’s administration.
On Monday, about 50 South Africans arrived for resettlement in the US after Trump granted them refugee status as victims of what he called a “genocide,” a claim rejected by the South African government.
On Monday, the Episcopal Church said that it would end its refugee resettlement program with the US government rather than comply with the administration’s orders to help resettle the South Africans.
Photo: The Episcopal Church via AP
White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement that the church’s decision raised “serious questions about its supposed commitment to humanitarian aid.”
Afrikaners have “faced unspeakable horrors,” Kelly said.
Episcopal Church presiding bishop Sean Rowe was scathing in his criticism of the Trump administration’s decision to grant the South Africans refugee status.
“It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years,” Rowe said.
Under eligibility guidelines published by the US embassy, applicants for US resettlement must either be of Afrikaner ethnicity or belong to a racial minority in South Africa.
The Episcopal Church said that it could not comply with Trump’s order “in light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation.”
It said its programs with the US federal government would be wound up by the end of the fiscal year, but that its work on refugee resettlement would continue, including supporting recently arrived refugees from around the world.
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