The Episcopal Church’s refugee resettlement organization refused to resettle white South African refugees, citing a commitment to “racial justice.”
Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe announced the decision on behalf of Episcopal Migration Ministries on Monday, just a day after 49 South Africans began their journey to the United States.
“In light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step,” Rowe announced after the government contacted Episcopal Migration Ministries requesting assistance in resettling the South African refugees.
Rowe went on to say that the organization, which has a long history of receiving federal grants to resettle refugees, will terminate their agreements with the government. “We have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the U.S. federal government.”
President Donald Trump extended refugee status to white South Africans amid concerns that the minority group is being subjected to racial discrimination and has been scapegoated by politicians who’ve called for violence against them.
“South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social in February. “It is a bad situation that the Radical Left Media doesn’t want to so much as mention. A massive Human Rights VIOLATION, at a minimum, is happening for all to see.”
The Trump administration announced an executive order just days later, offering white South Africans refugee status in the United States. The administration cited “hateful rhetoric and government actions fueling disproportionate violence against racially disfavored landowners,” as well as a new law that will “enable the government of South Africa to seize ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation.”
Controversy erupted after Julius Malema, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa, chanted “shoot to kill” and “kill the boer” at a political rally in reference to the Dutch South African population.
South Africa’s Julius Malema, the party leader of the EFF calls for killing white people:
“Shoot to kiII. KiII the Boer, the farmer”pic.twitter.com/vFjqJ9l8GR https://t.co/sxzS0d0Dn4
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 22, 2025
Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirmed the Trump administration’s decision to offer refugee status to white South Africans in a post on X on Monday.
“The South African government has treated these people terribly — threatening to steal their private land and subjected them to vile racial discrimination,” Rubio said. “The Trump Administration is proud to offer them refuge in our great country.”
