The Trump administration is considering sweeping changes to the US refugee system that would give priority to English-speaking, white South Africans and regime-critical Europeans.
According to internal documents obtained by the New York Times, the program would be transformed from primarily accepting refugees from Africa, the Middle East and other parts of the world to focusing more on white refugees.
The proposals were presented to the White House in April and July by officials from the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security. President Trump has previously ordered agencies to investigate whether refugee resettlement serves US interests and paused the entire program on his first day in office.
The proposed changes emphasize whether applicants can adapt to the US, and refugees would be instructed to participate in courses on “American history and values” as well as “respect for cultural norms”.
Trump is recommended to prioritize Europeans who have “targeted for peaceful expression of views online such as opposition to mass migration or support for ‘populist’ political parties”.
Trump has already granted priority status to Afrikaners, the white population group that once ruled South Africa’s apartheid regime. Trump has claimed they face racial persecution, an assertion that South African government officials reject.
Drastic reduction
According to the documents, US refugee resettlement has made the country far too “multicultural”.
“The sharp increase in diversity has reduced the level of social trust essential for the functioning of a democratic polity”, the documents state.
Trump plans to reduce the number of refugees from 125,000 to 7,500 per year. The administration also proposes that hundreds of thousands of people already in the application process should have their applications terminated.
— It should come as no surprise that the State Department is implementing the priorities of the duly elected president of the United States, commented Thomas Pigott, spokesman for the State Department.
Anger over the plans
Reports that the US may focus more on white refugees have been met with anger and outrage from refugee activists and left-liberal figures.
Barbara L. Strack, former chief of the refugee division at US Citizenship and Immigration Services, is among many who are highly critical of the proposals:
— It reflects a preexisting notion among some in the Trump administration as to who are the true Americans, she laments, continuing:
— And they think it’s white people and they think it’s Christians.
