On May 12, 59 white South Africans, members of the nation’s Afrikaner minority, which invented and imposed the nation’s widely decried apartheid system, arrived on U.S. soil, having been classified as refugees by the Trump administration. That same day, Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe released a statement saying that the government had asked Episcopal Migration Ministries to resettle the cohort. The nearly 40-year-old ministry refused.
“Just over two weeks ago, the federal government informed Episcopal Migration Ministries that under the terms of our federal grant, we are expected to resettle white Afrikaners from South Africa whom the U.S. government has classified as refugees,” Rowe’s statement read. “In light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step.”
Faith leaders voiced strong support for the church’s stance.
The Rev. Adam Russell Taylor, president of Sojourners, a progressive Christian organization, described the church’s refusal as “trying to take a position of conscience.” The Baptist minister called the Trump administration’s actions “pure politics” and “hypocrisy.”
“First, they shut down the resettlement programs for refugees, which have been incredibly successful in vetting and welcoming people facing some of the greatest persecution in the world,” Taylor told TLC. “And then they take the step of basically circumventing the program that worked for so long and creating an exception for white Afrikaners that have very dubious qualifications for a refugee status.”
Taylor added that he would welcome Afrikaners who go through “the real process” required to qualify as refugees. According to the National Immigration Forum, that process can take two years or more.
“The Episcopal Church’s decision to not support the federal migration partnership concerning white Afrikaners reminds us: this is not a velvet-rope nightclub where we decide who’s worthy,” said the Rev. Christian Anderson, a social-media influencer and vicar of operations at St. Mary’s Church in Stuart, Florida.
“The gospel compels us to welcome the stranger, defend the vulnerable, and resist systems that rank human value,” he added. “We must stand for what is right—even when it makes the execution of our overall mission more difficult.”
In his statement, Rowe also said that the Episcopal Church will end its decades-long partnership with the federal government on refugee resettlement this year as a result of this decision.
World Relief, an evangelical humanitarian organization, said it would assist in resettling some members of the group. In a May 9 statement, the organization clarified: “These individuals are not being processed through the traditional U.S. Refugee Admissions Program—the longstanding public-private partnership process operated by the U.S. State Department along with non-profit organizations such as World Relief—because that program remains suspended following a day-one executive order from President Trump.”
Instead, assistance for those from South Africa are coming from funds already allocated to refugees and asylum seekers, among other groups, who are already in the United States.
“There is no persecution of white South Africans,” said Ronald Lamola, South Africa’s Minister for International Relations and Cooperation, on the night the group left the nation. Lamola said police reports and crime statistics offer no evidence that white South Africans are being targeted because of their race.
Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa during apartheid and is a close adviser to President Trump, has repeatedly claimed that the South African government promotes land seizures and violence against white people. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has denounced it as a “completely false narrative.”
“It’s clear this is just a political maneuver,” Taylor said of the government’s handling of the Afrikaners’ refugee claim. “It really undermines the integrity of the overall program and it really sends the wrong message to many other people and countries around the world that are deserving of refugee status.”
Rowe explained the church’s decision by highlighting that the Afrikaners are receiving “preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years.”
“I am saddened and ashamed that many of the refugees who are being denied entrance to the United States are brave people who worked alongside our military in Iraq and Afghanistan and now face danger at home because of their service to our country,” Rowe said in his statement. “I also grieve that victims of religious persecution, including Christians, have not been granted refuge in recent months.”
Kathie O’Callaghan, president and founder of Hearts and Homes for Refugees, an organization that has supported Afghan arrivals under the Special Immigrant Visa program, described the current policy environment as the most uncertain she has seen.
“The administration’s policies, its treatment of refugees, and its refusal to follow the law and the rulings by the courts to implement the lawful, time-honored, and proven successful refugee resettlement program is further painful evidence that compassion, empathy, and humanitarian values have been replaced with cruel, racist, and short-sighted actions,” O’Callaghan told TLC.
The Anglican Church in Southern Africa played a central role in the struggle against apartheid, a social system instituted by, presided over, and closely associated with Afrikaners, who continue to make up more than half of the nation’s white population.
During that era, the church’s most prominent figure was Archbishop Desmond Tutu of Cape Town. Tutu chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which investigated abuses committed during apartheid’s 46-year reign. He addressed the Episcopal Church’s General Convention in 1982 and remains a beloved figure and enduring inspiration for the church’s racial justice work.
Dr. Catherine Meeks, who led the Diocese of Atlanta’s racial reconciliation work for years and now directs the Lavender Institute for Transformation and Healing, fully supports the church’s refusal to welcome the Afrikaners.
“This is a shame for us as a nation to be treating Latinx people the way that we are and then bringing white people here,” Meeks said. “It’s almost like purging the country.”
Caleb Maglaya Galaraga is The Living Church’s Episcopal Church reporter. His work has also appeared in Christianity Today, Broadview Magazine, and Presbyterian Outlook, among other publications.
