Episcopal Church refuses to resettle white South Africans, cuts ties with Trump

The Episcopal Church is ending its long-standing collaboration with the federal government on refugee resettlement programs due to its objections to resettling white Afrikaners from South Africa.

A May 12 letter from presiding Anglican Bishop Sean W. Rowe says that the federal government informed the Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM) that under its grant agreement, it would be expected to assist in resettling white Afrikaners. The church decided not to comply, reports RNS.

“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,” Rowe wrote. “Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the US federal government.”

The decision, Rowe says, comes after reflection on the denomination’s core values and its legacy of standing with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa.

Rowe said the Episcopal Church could not in good conscience accept the terms of the resettlement grant, given the context now that Trump had moved to classify white Afrikaners as eligible. 

He added that while EMM will “wind down all federally funded services by the end of the federal fiscal year in September,” the church will continue to serve immigrants and refugees through other channels, such as ongoing support for those already resettled.

The group of 49 white South Africans departed Johannesburg on Sunday and arrived in the United States on Monday. 

The move sparked renewed tensions between Washington and South Africa, with the country vehemently denying the claim that white South Africans are being persecuted. "There is no persecution of white Afrikaner South Africans,” Ronald Lamola, the South African foreign minister, claimed on Monday, per BBC.

US officials have accused the South African government of enacting discriminatory policies that target whites, including land seizure. South Africa admits that it has passed legislation that allows for land “expropriation without compensation.” 

The US decision to fast-track the Afrikaners' refugee applications came without involvement from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a step that some have criticized due to the Trump administration’s otherwise strict refugee stance. “What’s happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created,” Trump adviser Stephen Miller said Friday. “This is persecution based on a protected characteristic — in this case, race. This is race-based persecution," per Fox News.

Afrikaners, who largely descend from early Dutch settlers, have been at the center of a growing political and diplomatic standoff between the two countries. President Trump has repeatedly pointed to the “large-scale killing of farmers” in South Africa, claims that the South African government disputes.

Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa and has served as an adviser to Trump in his second term, said that there is a “genocide of white people” in South Africa and has accused the government of enacting “racist ownership laws.”

Earlier this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio expelled the South African ambassador from the United States and boycotted a G20 meeting in Johannesburg. Rubio called the ambassador a “race-baiting” politician and accused him of harboring anti-American views.