The Washington Post reports:

Months after the Trump administration ground U.S. refugee admissions to a halt, suspending a program that lets in thousands of people fleeing war or political persecution, it is preparing to restart that effort — but only for one group: White South Africans.

Plans are underway to fly approximately 60 Afrikaners to Dulles International Airport on a State Department-chartered plane Monday, with federal and Virginia officials preparing to receive them in a ceremonial news conference, according to documents and emails obtained by The Washington Post, as well as three government officials familiar with the preparations.

The arriving families, who are part of a group that President Donald Trump has said face racial discrimination, will then be resettled outside Virginia in 10 states, according to those familiar with the plans, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share details of the preparations.

“The U.S. government is prioritizing the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees, and [the Office of Refugee Resettlement] is coordinating services to ensure they receive the support they need from the very initial days of their arrival,” Miro Marinovich, who oversees the Refugee Program Bureau at the Department of Health and Human Services, wrote in an email to other federal officials on Wednesday. “The first flight of Afrikaner refugees is set to arrive on Monday, May 12.”

A State Department spokesperson did not answer questions about the flight but confirmed in a statement that embassy officials have been “conducting interviews and processing” in accordance with a Trump executive order in February. That directive to Cabinet officials looked to promote the resettlement of Afrikaners as refugees following a recently signed South African land redistribution law that in some situations allows for property to be taken away without compensation.

Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, told reporters outside the White House on Friday that “what’s happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created. This is persecution based on a protected characteristic, in this case, race.” [Continue reading…]

The New York Times reports:

The arrival of the Afrikaners would cement Mr. Trump’s efforts to upend a program that for decades has allowed thousands of people fleeing war, famine and natural disaster to find safe haven in the United States.

While the program remains suspended for refugees across the world, such as Congolese families in refugee camps and Rohingya seeking safety, white South Africans were processed much faster than is normal for these cases.

Refugees can often wait years in camps around the world before they are processed and approved to travel to the United States. Before the first Trump administration, refugee resettlement took an average of 18 to 24 months, according to the American Immigration Council, an advocacy group for immigrants. Many refugees must wait years longer.

The Afrikaners, however, had to wait no more than three months. [Continue reading…]