With the U.S. government largely shut down refugee acceptance in countries that have experienced widespread violence and poverty.
As part of a refugee plan developed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, 59 white Afrikaners from South Africa have arrived in the United States, providing shelter from what Trump described as racial discrimination against whites.
In a press conference on Monday, Trump reflected a myth that white South Africans have suffered systematic violence in South Africa since the end of the country's white minority rule.
"This is a genocide that happened," Trump told White House reporters.
The move comes as the Trump administration blocked almost all refugee enrollment from non-white countries and tended to “invade” the immigrants in poor countries.
Although people fleeing widespread violence and persecution in countries such as Haiti and Afghanistan have found a closed door, Al Jazeera correspondent Patty Culhane said the Trump administration “has prioritized bringing these people (white South Africans) into the United States and paying for them to come here.”
The South African government called Trump's claim that the South African Dutch faced persecution "completely false" and pointed out that they remain the richest and most economically privileged group, even after the end of the segregation, they maintained white control over political, economic and military resources and denied the primary fundamental rights of black black South Africans.
According to the international academic journal Political Economy Review, white South Africans still own three-quarters of the country, about 20 times the majority of blacks.
"We think the U.S. government has encountered the wrong end here, but we will continue to talk to them," said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa himself, a veteran in the fight to end apartheid.
Tensions between the Trump administration and South Africa's government are high, with the United States expelling South Africa's ambassadors for previous criticism of Trump and contradicting the prominent position of African countries before the International Court of Justice accused U.S. ally Israel of the case in Gaza.
The Trump administration proposed in February to relocate the Africa, descendants of Africa settlers, noting that they face discrimination and violence against farmers in South Africa.
“I hope everyone knows that you are really welcome here and we respect what you have to deal with in recent years,” Secretary of State Christopher Landau told a group of Afrikaans who arrived in the U.S. on Monday. “We respect the long traditions of your people and the achievements you have achieved over the years.”
Bill Frelick, director of refugee policy at Human Rights Watch, said the rapid process of bringing Africa to the United States is unprecedented.
"These people don't live in refugee camps; they haven't fled their own country. They are the most connected groups to black majority oppression through apartheid," Frick said. "This is not one of these most vulnerable refugees in the world."