Episcopalians tell Trump ‘nee’ to resettling white South Africans

Guno צְבִי

We fight, We win, Am Yisrael Chai
The Episcopal Church has severed a four-decade-old relationship with the federal government, citing its moral opposition to resettling white Afrikaners from South Africa the Trump administration had declared refugees.


The hearty ‘nee’ (‘no’ in Afrikaans) from the religious denomination marks an extraordinary act of protest. The Episcopal Church long had participated in resettling refugees fleeing persecution and war in their home countries, Religion News Service reported.

The Episcopal Church has severed a four-decade-old relationship with the federal government, citing its moral opposition to resettling white Afrikaners from South Africa the Trump administration had declared refugees.


The hearty ‘nee’ (‘no’ in Afrikaans) from the religious denomination marks an extraordinary act of protest. The Episcopal Church long had participated in resettling refugees fleeing persecution and war in their home countries, Religion News Service reported.

 

Episcopal Church refuses to resettle white Afrikaners, citing moral opposition​


In a striking move that ends a nearly four-decades-old relationship between the federal government and the Episcopal Church, the denomination announced on Monday that it is terminating its partnership with the government to resettle refugees, citing moral opposition to resettling white Afrikaners from South Africa who have been classified as refugees by President Trump's administration.

White Afrikaaner South Africans demonstrate in support of U.S. President Donald Trump in front of the U.S. embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)

In a letter sent to members of the church, the Most Rev. Sean W. Rowe — the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church — said that two weeks ago, the government "informed Episcopal Migration Ministries that under the terms of our federal grant, we are expected to resettle white Afrikaners from South Africa whom the U.S. government has classified as refugees."

The request, Rowe said, crossed a moral line for the Episcopal Church, which is part of the global Anglican Communion, which boasts among its leaders the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a celebrated and vocal opponent of apartheid in South Africa.

The announcement came just as flights with Afrikaners were scheduled to arrive at Washington Dulles International Airport, outside Washington, D.C. — the first batch of entries after Trump declared via a February executive order that the U.S. would take in "Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination." The South African government has stridently denied allegations of systemic racial animus, as has a coalition of white religious leaders in the region that includes many Anglicans.

"The stated reasons for [Trump's actions] are claims of victimisation, violence and hateful rhetoric against white people in South Africa along with legislation providing for the expropriation of land without compensation," read the letter from white South African religious leaders, which included among its four authors an Anglican priest. "As white South Africans in active leadership within the Christian community, representing diverse political and theological perspectives, we unanimously reject these claims."

 

White House slams Episcopal Church's refusal to resettle white South Africans​

Trump ran on an anti-immigrant platform and essentially halted refugee arrivals in the United States after taking office, but made an exception for white Afrikaners despite South Africa's insistence that they do not face persecution in their homeland.

On Monday, around 50 white South Africans arrived for resettlement in the United States, after Trump granted them refugee status as victims of what he called a "genocide."

That claim -- oft-repeated by Trump's Pretoria-born ally, billionaire Elon Musk -- has been widely dismissed as absurd, including by the South African government.

 
Back
Top