'A clear message': 4 reactions to the US resettling Afrikaners from South Africa
1. Church World Service
Rick Santos, president and CEO of Church World Service, a faith-based refugee resettlement agency, scrutinized the Trump administration's fast-tracking of Afrikaner resettlement while obstructing other refugee groups.
"We are concerned that the U.S. Government has chosen to fast-track the admission of Afrikaners, while actively fighting court orders to provide life-saving resettlement to other refugee populations who are in desperate need of resettlement," Santos said in a May 9 statement.
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Santos urged the government to fast-track all other refugee groups.
"By resettling this population, the Government is demonstrating that it still has the capacity to quickly screen, process, and depart refugees to the United States. It's time for the Administration to honor our nation's commitment to the thousands of refugee families it abandoned with its cruel and illegal executive order."
Santos affirmed CWS's commitment to serving all eligible refugees, including Afrikaners, in contrast to The Episcopal Church, which announced it would end its refugee program after being asked to resettle Afrikaners.
"Our faith compels us to serve each person in our care with dignity and compassion," Santos added.
One of nine organizations authorized to resettle refugees by the U.S. State Department, CWS was part of an effort to urge the first Trump administration to reconsider its plans to shrink the refugee resettlement program.
