South Africa has accused the United States of employing Kenyan nationals without valid work permits at a facility handling refugee applications from white South Africans.
According to a statement from South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs, seven Kenyan citizens have been detained following intelligence reports that individuals recently entered the country on tourist visas and illegally took up employment at the centre.
The United States, while seeking to curb overall migration, maintains that white Afrikaners in South Africa qualify for asylum due to alleged persecution—a position firmly disputed by the South African government.
Though the US has slashed its annual global refugee intake from 125,000 to 7,500, it states that Afrikaners—descendants primarily of Dutch and French settlers—will be given priority.
This policy has contributed to heightened tensions between South Africa and the Trump administration.
South Africa said the Kenyans apprehended during Tuesday’s operation will be deported and banned from re-entering the country for five years.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly asserted that Afrikaners are being targeted and killed in South Africa, despite a lack of evidence showing that white farmers face a higher risk of crime than their black counterparts.
Earlier this year, Trump offered refugee status to Afrikaners after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa enacted legislation permitting the government to expropriate land without compensation in exceptional cases.
Due to apartheid’s legacy, most privately owned farmland remains in white hands, putting pressure on the government to redistribute land to black farmers. However, officials emphasize that no land has yet been seized under the new law.
