President Donald Trump's administration on Monday welcomed 59 white South Africans who were granted refugee status in the United States because they were considered victims of racial discrimination, a move that drew criticism from Democrats and caused confusion in South Africa, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
U.S. President Donald Trump has blocked the admission of mostly non-white refugees from the rest of the world, but in February offered to resettle Afrikaners, descendants of mostly Dutch settlers, saying they faced discrimination.
Asked today why white South Africans were being put ahead of victims of famine and war in other parts of Africa, Trump said without providing evidence that Afrikaners were being killed.
"This is genocide," Trump told reporters at the White House, going further than before, repeating right-wing claims about their alleged persecution. He was not kind to Afrikaners because they were white, Trump said, adding that their race "doesn't matter to me at all."
South Africa says there is no evidence of persecution and that the allegations of "genocide against whites" are false. in the country are not supported by evidence.
Treating white South Africans as refugees fleeing oppression has sparked alarm and ridicule from South African authorities, who say the Trump administration has stepped into a domestic problem it does not understand.
The FBI has ordered its agents to increase the time they spend on illegal immigration cases and reduce the investigation of so-called white-collar crimes, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
In a series of meetings, FBI agents were told locally that they would have to start devoting about a third of their time to helping the Trump administration crack down on illegal immigration.
They were told that prosecuting "white-collar" cases would be deprioritized until at least the end of 2025, said people who were granted anonymity to discuss the matter, Reuters reported.
An FBI spokeswoman did not comment on the new directive.
Historically, immigration enforcement has largely been outside the purview of the Justice Department, Reuters noted. But as President Donald Trump has stepped up his crackdown on immigration, thousands of federal law enforcement officers from multiple agencies have taken on new jobs as immigration enforcement officers in recent months, drawing resources away from crime-fighting elsewhere.