South Africa’s government has rejected U.S. accusations that it harassed and threatened U.S. officials during a raid on a center that processes asylum claims from white South Africans in the United States.
Tuesday’s raid led to the deportation of seven Kenyans for working illegally in South Africa.
The United States has accused South Africa of disclosing the passport information of its officials, calling it “unacceptable” and warning of “serious consequences.”
However, South Africa denied this, saying it “takes data security issues the most seriously.”
The United States is providing asylum to South Africa’s Afrikaner community, saying they are being persecuted. The South African government rejected these claims.
Donald Trump’s administration has reduced the number of refugees arriving from around the world annually from 125,000 to 7,500, but has said it will prioritize Afrikaners, who are mostly descendants of Dutch and French settlers.
Tensions between the two countries have increased since President Trump took office.
After the raid on the processing center, South Africa expressed concern that foreign officials appeared to have collaborated with undocumented workers and said it had reached out to the United States and Kenya to try to resolve the issue.
The U.S. State Department said in a statement released Thursday that it “condemns in the strongest terms the South African government’s recent detention of U.S. officials on a mission to provide humanitarian assistance to Afrikaners.”
South Africa has not provided any evidence to support accusations that it disclosed government officials’ passport information.
South Africa’s Home Office described the accusations as “baseless”.
“South Africa takes all data security issues with the utmost seriousness and operates under strict legal and diplomatic protocols,” South Africa said in a statement.
U.S. officials previously said no arrests were made and the operation did not take place at a diplomatic location.
Kenyans said they applied for work permits but were rejected.
The United States did not comment directly on this, but said it “committed to operating its refugee program within the bounds of the law.”
Trump claimed that Afrikaners were suffering “genocide” in South Africa, despite no evidence that white farmers were more likely to be killed than black farmers.
He proposed refugee status for Afrikaners earlier this year after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a bill allowing the government to seize land without compensation in rare cases.
The first group of about 50 people flew to the United States on a chartered plane. It’s unclear how many have moved or are in the process of applying.
Due to the legacy of the racist apartheid system, most of South Africa’s privately owned farmland is owned by the white community, and the South African government is under pressure to provide more land to black farmers. However, we emphasize that no land has yet been seized under the new law.
South Africa has repeatedly tried to mend fences with the Trump administration, most notably when Ramaphosa led a high-level delegation to the White House earlier this year.
But this backfired when Trump ambushed him with images, videos and news reports showing the government was persecuting white people.
Last month, the United States boycotted the G20 summit in South Africa and said it would not invite South African officials to the meeting after seizing leadership of the world’s largest economy.
Additional reporting by Khanyisile Ngcobo from Johannesburg
