Latest news with #USRAP
The South African
28-06-2025
- Politics
- The South African
1000 Afrikaners prioritised for US refugee status
The US administration, under President Donald Trump, is expected to welcome 1000 Afrikaner 'refugees' this year as part of its resettlement programme. This comes after two groups of white South Africans were granted asylum in America over their 'fear of persecution' and claims of 'racial discrimination' in the country. Meanwhile, in a controversial move, Trump has indefinitely halted refugees from other countries earlier this year. According to the Washington Post, US authorities have pledged to resettle around 1000 Afrikaner 'refugees' in the coming months. The group will be prioritised above any other countries that have applied for the US Refugee Admissions Programme (USRAP) The resettlement process is expected to run until the end of September. According to the publication, the Trump administration will also move to block 160 refugees who were scheduled to travel to the US ahead of the February ban. Another 1200 had been vetted and had their flights booked to arrive in the US after the ban was imposed. International Refugee Assistance Project attorney Melissa Keaney said of the administration: 'It simply doesn't want to process any other refugee populations other than white Afrikaners'. More white South Africans are expected to take up Trump's refugee status. Image: Saul Loeb / AFP. While US authorities claim that refugee status is open to all 'racial minorities' in South Africa, the first two groups that have resettled abroad have been from the white population. Despite initially being targeted at Afrikaner farmers and white people, US authorities have since included coloured, Indian, and 'mixed-race' South Africans. Applicants must prove that they are 'persecuted' South Africans who are victims of 'racial discrimination'. Jaco Kleynhans, of the Solidarity Movement, stated that many Afrikaners had applied for refugee status. He told the media earlier this month: 'Several more groups will fly to the USA over the next few weeks. The US Embassy in Pretoria, in collaboration with the State Department in Washington, DC, is currently processing 8,000 applications. And we expect many more Afrikaner refugees to travel to the USA over the next few months. 'They are settling in states across the USA, but particularly southern states such as Texas, North and, South Carolina, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska.' He continued: 'Our primary focus is not refugee status for Afrikaners. But rather to find ways to ensure a free, safe, and prosperous future for Afrikaners in South Africa. We remain 100% convinced that South Africa can and must create a home for all its people.' Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 . Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp , Facebook , X, and Bluesky for the latest news.
Middle East Eye
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
On World Refugee Day, scores of families approved for resettlement in US are stuck in limbo
Friday, 20 June, marks International Refugee Day, but celebrations across the US have been muted since the Trump administration's 20 January refugee ban remains firmly in place. Since the ban was implemented, around 12,000 refugees who had security screenings and were booked for travel to the US had their flights cancelled. Another approximately 108,000 remaining refugees who had been 'conditionally approved' to come to the US remain stranded in precarious situations overseas. Only a very small number of refugees are currently being resettled and allowed to access support services under exceptions to the refugee ban. The Biden administration had announced a target of 125,000 refugees for fiscal year 2025, and according to the United Nations, there were 42.7 million refugees worldwide at the end of 2024. Refugees currently being settled in the US include dozens of white South Africans and approximately 160 refugees protected by an injunction under a lawsuit known as Pacito vs Trump. While multiple lawsuits against the ban have been, and are being filed in courts, the Pacito vs Trump case, filed by International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) in February, is one of the most significant and high-profile challenges to the refugee ban. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters The class action lawsuit filed by IRAP represents a group of nine individuals affected by the ban and several refugee resettlement agencies seeking to have the executive order and suspension of refugee-related funding declared illegal and their implementation halted. It also looks to restore vital funding to the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). On 5 May, the Western District Court of Washington issued a compliance order to the government to process and provide resettlement support to refugees who were conditionally approved and had travel scheduled before 20 January 2025. This order covers 160 individuals who had imminent travel plans as of 20 January and will retain protection under the ruling. On 15 May, the district court also affirmed that the government must immediately resume the processing of around 11,840 vulnerable refugees who were conditionally approved for resettlement with confirmed travel plans before the executive order. Laurie Ball Cooper, vice president for US legal programmes at IRAP, affirmed that some more people may be eligible to resume their plans to come to the US. 'In addition, among the remaining - approximately 12,000 people minus the 160 - there are surely people who can meet the standard set by the Ninth Circuit of showing that they have a strong reliance interest in the travel and therefore are still protected by the injunction,' she said. 'The district court has indicated that they will set up a process using a special neutral individual [special master] to adjudicate disputes around who meets that standard and who does not. But that process hasn't started yet,' Ball Cooper said. 'Bittersweet' From the approximate 108,000 refugees who were 'conditionally approved', Ball Cooper remains optimistic that the current litigation would also be able to find them some relief. 'Our underlying litigation continues to challenge the executive order as it applies to all refugees, and so over the long term, I hope that we will prevail on those arguments and see people able to proceed to safety.' USRAP was created in 1980 by the Refugee Act of 1980 to provide a safe and legal pathway for people fleeing persecution, war, or conflict to come to the United States to either join with family or to meet foreign and humanitarian policy priorities of the US government. Despite political rhetoric that often scapegoats refugees as a burden, refugees are a fiscal success for the United States. Based on a study commissioned by the Trump administration during his first term, refugees were shown to contribute $63 billion more in federal, state, and local taxes than they had taken in services and assistance between 2005 and 2014. US grants dozens of white South Africans refugee status Read More » 'Every refugee who enters is someone who is able to pursue the life that they are meant to be able to pursue here: in many cases, to reunite with family members, to join communities that are ready to welcome them. So every single arrival is something worth celebrating, and more should be coming!' Ball Cooper added. Despite the statistical net positive that refugees bring to the US, celebrations on World Refugee Day have been bittersweet. 'I would describe observances of International Refugee Day today as mixed,' Ball Cooper said. She said that everyone in refugee communities or refugee-serving communities was continuing to take time today to celebrate the many ways refugees 'enrich our communities in the US, and the great joy it is for those of us who get to know, work with and live with refugees'. 'At the same time, it is certainly bittersweet, because there are so many tens of thousands of refugees who should be here already, and they're not because of the refugee ban,' she said. 'This is deeply sad, extremely frustrating, heartbreaking and life-threatening for many of the refugees themselves.'
IOL News
05-06-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Who does and who doesn't meet the 'Afrikaner' criteria for Trump's resettlement offer?
The South African delegation led by President Cyril Ramaphosa with the US delegation and President Donald Trump at the White House. Image: GCIS With the second batch of white Afrikaners having quietly arrived in the United States last week, as part of President Donald Trump's offer to resettle them amidst false claims of white genocide and persecution in South Africa, a discussion has been raised around who exactly can meet the criteria. The second batch is part of a larger group that applied to be resettled within the US, according to the Head of Public Relations for trade union Solidarity, Jaco Kleynhans. Kleynhans further shared that there have been 70,000 enquiries and so far there have been about 8,000 formal applications. 'How many people will be resettled will be determined by many factors – how many people apply in future, (and) how many applications are successful?' Explaining their role in the process, Kleynhans said: 'We are not involved at all. We only help people with enquiries and refer them to the right people at the embassy.' A US Mission to South Africa spokesperson said: 'The U.S. Embassy in Pretoria continues to review inquiries from individuals who have expressed interest to the Embassy in resettling to the United States and is reaching out to eligible individuals for refugee interviews and processing.' 'Refugees continue to arrive in the United States from South Africa on commercial flights as part of the Afrikaner resettlement program's ongoing operations.' In their records, the spokesperson said they have received almost 50,000 inquiries regarding refugee resettlement to the United States from South Africa. Afrikaners waiting to be briefed by US government officials in a hangar at Dulles International Airport, Washington on May 12, 2025. Image: AFP According to the criteria, to be eligible for US resettlement consideration (USRAP), individuals must meet all of the following criteria: Must be of South African nationality; and Must be of Afrikaner ethnicity or be a member of a racial minority in South Africa; and Must be able to articulate a past experience of persecution or fear of future persecution. In his IOL opinion piece this week, Clyde N.S. Ramalaine argued that the criteria used, has opened an unexpected opportunity to examine how it could inadvertently apply to other historically marginalised South African groups, 'particularly the KhoeSan and Coloured communities'. 'The original purpose of the USRAP criteria appears to have been the protection of white South Africans fearing political and land displacement. However, its language is broad enough to permit reinterpretation. 'A literal application of its three criteria—nationality, minority status, and persecution—clearly allows for KhoeSan and Coloured inclusion,' Ramalaine said. Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) CEO, Lance Schultz, explained that the word "Afrikaner" derives from the Dutch word Afrikaan, meaning "African," combined with the suffix -er, which denotes a person associated with a place or characteristic. 'Thus, 'Afrikaner' literally means 'one from Africa' or 'African' in Dutch.' Schultz explained that initially, "Afrikaner" was a broad term that could apply to anyone born in Africa, including people of mixed descent or even enslaved individuals, but over time, it became more narrowly associated with the white, Dutch-speaking settler population who developed a distinct cultural and linguistic identity separate from their European origins. 'Many views or schools of thought may exist regarding the historical origin of the word 'Afrikaner'; two of these can be explored. Firstly, the term 'Afrikaner' is regarded as having its roots in the Dutch colonial history of South Africa, and it refers to white Afrikaans-speaking persons. 'The term was initially used to describe people of European descent, primarily Dutch, who settled in southern Africa and identified with the continent as their home. This reflects the complex interplay of language, culture, and identity in the region,' Schultz said. He explained that the term "Afrikaner" has undergone significant changes in meaning, usage, and connotation since its emergence in the 17th century, reflecting shifts in historical, social, and political contexts in South Africa. 'After the end of apartheid in 1994, the term 'Afrikaner' became more contested. It remains primarily associated with white, Afrikaans-speaking South Africans, but is increasingly debated in terms of inclusivity. Some advocate for a broader definition that includes all Afrikaans speakers, regardless of race, such as Coloured and Black Afrikaans-speaking communities,' Schultz said. 'The legacy of apartheid has made 'Afrikaner' a polarising term for some, associated with historical oppression, while others view it as a cultural or linguistic identity divorced from political connotations. In modern South Africa, Afrikaner identity is diverse, with some embracing globalised or progressive values and others holding onto conservative or nationalist sentiments.' Head of Public Relations for trade union Solidarity, Jaco Kleynhans said that there have been 70,000 enquiries about US President Donald Trump's resettlement offer and so far there have been about 8,000 formal applications. Image: Graphic He explained that the categorising of who does and doesn't count as part of a specific ethnic group, such as "Afrikaner" in the context of Trump's 2025 executive order, involves navigating complex linguistic, cultural, and political terrain. 'This policy has spotlighted the term 'Afrikaner' and raised questions about its definition, revealing language pitfalls that can lead to exclusion, misrepresentation, or manipulation of ethnic identity.' He added that ethnic categories like "Afrikaner" often blend linguistic, cultural, ancestral, and racial elements, but vague or inconsistent definitions can lead to misinterpretation or exclusion. 'The executive order appears to define 'Afrikaner' narrowly as white, Afrikaans-speaking South Africans, aligning with historical apartheid-era usage that excluded non-white Afrikaans speakers, such as the Coloured community, who form a significant portion of Afrikaans speakers. This exclusionary framing ignores the linguistic diversity of Afrikaans speakers and reinforces a racialised interpretation of the term.' Director at the Centre for Education Rights and Transformation from the University of Johannesburg, Professor June Bam-Hutchison, added that the Trump administration is instrumentalising an apartheid white racist notion of 'Afrikaner' as 'embedded within Afrikaner nationalism which mutated into the ethnic foundations of the 'chosen people' (white Afrikaners)'. 'Of course, indigenous people and Africans have never been at the heart of Trump's interests. Since 1994, we have embraced a South African inclusivity, rejecting 'Colouredism' as it has a nasty Apartheid history of imposed dislocation from Africa. 'It would be foolish to believe that Trump's presidency, in this gesture from its embassy, includes indigenous people from anywhere in the world, although opportunistic ethnic nationalists would want to claim refugee status to further Apartheid ideals of divide and rule. Such claims are questionable within this context,' Bam-Hutchison said. Bam-Hutchison said Trump's actions are about entrenching global white supremacy, and the strategic positioning politically and economically on the continent. 'Should 'Coloureds' claim refugee status on the grounds stated, it would be merely opportunistic in a country which brutally dispossessed the Native American people and in which the Black Lives Matter movement has major unsettled business with the Trump administration. 'Definitely, a highly suspicious gesture peppered with significant and glaring contradictions for the world to see at a time of live genocide in Gaza,' Bam-Hutchison said. When asked if even people from the Cape Flats, who see themselves as 'Afrikaners', could also apply, Kleynhans said, 'Yes'. 'The entire process has been discredited by many in the mainstream media, as well as in the South African government. We find this despicable. The US government has the right to offer refugee status to anyone they wish. 'Furthermore, many Afrikaners experience serious discrimination and persecution. Many Afrikaners feel completely alienated from the country they love so much. This is a tragedy. Furthermore, our main focus as Solidarity has always been and is to ensure that Afrikaners can remain in South Africa,' Kleynhans said. 'We do not want Afrikaners to feel that they have lost all hope for a future in South Africa. We will therefore continue to fight for a future for Afrikaners in South Africa.' Head of Public Relations for trade union Solidarity, Jaco Kleynhans said that there have been 70,000 enquiries, so far there have been about 8,000 formal applications. Image: Graphic
IOL News
02-06-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
The Unintended Consequences of US Refugee Policy for South African Minorities
Members of the Khoi and San community camped outside the Union Building in 2019 demanding that their rights be recognised. Image: Oupa Mokoena/African News Agency (ANA) Clyde N.S. Ramalaine The recent resettlement of 49 South Africans, described as 'Afrikaners', to the United States under refugee status via the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) has drawn public ridicule, suspicion, and commentary. While some predict their imminent return to sunny South Africa, the event offers an unexpected opportunity to examine how USRAP's criteria could inadvertently apply to other historically marginalised South African groups, particularly the KhoeSan and Coloured communities. This article does not support or validate the ideological narratives of groups like AfriForum or Solidarity, who claim persecution under terms like 'white genocide.' Such claims are unsubstantiated, racially selective, and morally indefensible. Instead, this article offers a literal and policy-driven reading of USRAP's eligibility framework, focusing not on its intentions but on its possible implications for marginalised non-white South African identities. USRAP eligibility criteria Under Executive Order 14204, USRAP permits applications from South Africans who meet three conditions: Must be of South African nationality; Must be of Afrikaner ethnicity or a member of a racial minority; Must articulate past persecution or fear of future persecution. Although influenced by racialised narratives of white Afrikaner persecution, the policy does not explicitly exclude non-white groups. This opens an interpretive doorway that, when read literally and consistently, may qualify KhoeSan and Coloured South Africans—groups with longstanding, legitimate claims of marginalisation. South African nationality - A contested construct The idea of a unified 'South African nationality' is not neutral or straightforward. South African identity has been deeply shaped by colonial conquest, apartheid-era racial division, and selective post-apartheid nation-building. Far from a cohesive category, 'South African' is an ongoing site of contestation, haunted by economic inequality, cultural marginalisation, and incomplete reconciliation. Under apartheid, nationality was fractured across pseudo-ethnic 'homelands.' Today, the uncritically adopted 'Rainbow Nation' rhetoric fails to conceal the persistence of racial and spatial disparities. For many, especially KhoeSan and Coloured South Africans, national identity remains fractured, imposed, and weaponised against their claims to full inclusion and recognition. Afrikaner identity - An exclusionary social construct The term 'Afrikaner' has always been a politically fluid concept. It was only in the 20th century, under apartheid, that it solidified as a synonym for white Afrikaans speakers. However, Afrikaans itself is a Creole language born at the Cape from African, European, and Asian linguistic influences. Millions of non-white South Africans—particularly the KhoeSan and Coloured communities—speak Afrikaans as their mother tongue and have made significant contributions to its literary and cultural legacy. If 'Afrikaner' is used to denote those rooted in Africa who speak Afrikaans, then the most authentic claimants are arguably the KhoeSan and Coloured peoples. To exclude them is to perpetuate apartheid's racial gatekeeping. The USRAP, though likely intending to privilege white identities, inadvertently opens space for those previously denied recognition within the very cultural matrix it seeks to protect. The notion of a "white Afrikaner" as a uniquely persecuted category is built on historical erasure. Afrikaner culture is not racially homogeneous. Its racialisation is a mid-20th-century political invention, not a cultural or linguistic truth. If USRAP implicitly assumes whiteness under the 'Afrikaner' identity, it contradicts its own stated openness. Racial minorities - Recognition beyond whiteness The policy's second clause, which asserts, 'or a member of a racial minority', broadens the scope for inclusion. Here, the KhoeSan and Coloured groups qualify, both as racial minorities and as communities subjected to historical persecution and contemporary marginalisation. The KhoeSan, South Africa's first people, have endured centuries of displacement, genocide, and erasure. Today, despite growing self-identification, they remain denied official indigeneity and reparative justice. Their exclusion from land reform and identity recognition makes them textbook examples of persecuted minorities. Coloured South Africans, a category created by apartheid to obscure Indigenous ancestry and maintain social control, also remain in a state of political liminality. This imposed identity, still used in state policy, has allowed the post-apartheid government to deny both their indigeneity and their oppression, framing them as 'beneficiaries' of apartheid while excluding them from targeted redress. Post-1994 policy continues to maintain racial categories rooted in apartheid logic. In practice, this has meant retaining the 'Coloured' label to contain indigenous claims and limit state accountability. Despite Steve Biko's inclusive definition of Black Consciousness, embracing all non-white oppressed peoples, the state's operational framework reserves 'African' identity for Nguni-Bantu groups, excluding KhoeSan and Coloured communities from full African identification and associated redress. A policy that outruns Its intentions The original purpose of the USRAP criteria appears to have been the protection of white South Africans fearing political and land displacement. However, its language is broad enough to permit reinterpretation. A literal application of its three criteria—nationality, minority status, and persecution—clearly allows for KhoeSan and Coloured inclusion. If USRAP is truly about offering refuge to marginalised South Africans, then KhoiSan and Coloured communities not only qualify but arguably embody the policy's intent more authentically than the white Afrikaners it was implicitly designed to protect. The US Refugee Admissions Program, though politically motivated and ideologically framed, unintentionally exposes the contradictions in South African identity politics and racial categorisation. Its criteria, if interpreted without racial bias, could provide an unexpected platform for historically marginalised communities like the KhoeSan and Coloured peoples to assert claims long denied by the South African state. This article is not an endorsement of emigration as a political solution. Rather, it is a call to critically examine how refugee policy, constructed with one ideological target in mind, might unintentionally illuminate deeper questions of identity, marginalisation, and justice. USRAP, as worded, opens a policy loophole. This gateway challenges racialised assumptions about Afrikaner identity and repositions the conversation around who truly qualifies as persecuted in post-apartheid South Africa.
HKFP
25-05-2025
- Politics
- HKFP
‘Victims for a lifetime': Refugees in Hong Kong tell of life in limbo after Trump's suspension of resettlement programme
Peter, a refugee in Hong Kong, fled political persecution in his home country in Africa. But he never thought he would become a victim again – this time because of a foreign leader thousands of kilometres away. He was scheduled to leave Hong Kong for resettlement in the US on February 4, but the plan was in shambles after Donald Trump was re-elected president. In January, Peter – who declined to disclose his full name and country of origin due to safety concerns – made preparations for his departure. 'I packed almost everything, resigned from my job as a pastor, and prepared to return the subdivided unit to the landlord,' he recalled. But on January 20, just hours after taking office, President Trump – infamous for his anti-immigrant rhetoric – signed an executive order, indefinitely suspending the US Refugee Admission Program (USRAP). The executive order also called for a report from the Department of Homeland Security within 90 days to consider whether to resume refugee admissions. Yet, the April 20 deadline came and went without any announcement. With a stroke of a pen, Trump has upended the lives of many refugees like Peter around the world. They face a life in limbo, unable to enter the US despite having received approval for resettlement, and are forced to stay in a place without a path to permanent residency or citizenship. The number of refugees admitted into the US annually actually decreased, from over 200,000 in 1980, when USRAP started, to around 100,000 in 2024, before Trump began his second term. Citing 'the interests of the United States' and the country's lack of 'ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees,' Trump ordered the suspension of USRAP. Critics slammed the decision, calling it 'unjustified' and pointing out that studies – including those by the government – showed refugees 'have a positive economic effect on the United States.' As a victim of Trump's orders, Peter felt disappointed while trying to be understanding. 'It is unfair to us but the fairest thing from their perspective,' Peter told HKFP, referring to US policymakers. 'They're trying to sort out their house, to fix their house, right?' With many voters supporting Trump in the US presidential election, he believed that 'no single person can be blamed' for the policy. 'I understand that people handling refugee cases are also kind of overwhelmed… struggling to screen out who is a genuine refugee, but again, that doesn't give them the right to make [the lives of] people who are genuine refugees so hard,' Peter said. People don't choose to become refugees, he added. 'Refugees are victims of circumstances, victims of people's decisions, victims of people's fights, and they find themselves to be victims for a lifetime.' As of October 2024, there were 37.9 million refugees worldwide, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In Hong Kong, there were 359 recognised refugees from late 2009 to March 2025, the Immigration Department's data showed. Now, four months after the ill-fated news, Peter has slowly got back on his feet. After back-and-forth negotiations with his landlord, he was allowed to stay in the subdivided flat. His church agreed to hire him as a pastor again. In late April, he started working after receiving a work permit from the Hong Kong Immigration Department. 'I am the luckiest,' said Peter, in his 40s, as he compared himself with many other refugees affected by the US ban. But like them, he was pessimistic about future resettlement. 'Many [in the refugee community] were hopeful over the [90-day review]. Now, nobody has a clear direction for the future,' he said. 'Back to square one' The Christian Action Centre for Refugees is located in the labyrinth of Chungking Mansion. On one May afternoon, social worker and centre-in-charge Jeffrey Andrews was busy preparing for an online meeting with representatives of refugees and asylum seekers to give them information on the centre's services and resettlement updates, especially the US's. Around 10 refugees served by the centre had prepared to leave for the US before the suspension was announced. 'Some had resigned from their jobs, their kids had withdrawn from school, and their house had been returned to the landlord,' Andrews said. Once they found themselves unable to get on the planes to the US, 'they are back to square one, just like the day they arrived in Hong Kong to seek asylum.' Most refugees directly affected by Trump's policy have not secured jobs in Hong Kong again after resigning in preparation for departure, he said. Dozens of refugees he knows expect their waiting time for resettlement to be prolonged. From asylum seekers to resettlement There were more than 15,000 asylum seekers in Hong Kong as of June 2024, according to the local NGO Justice Centre Hong Kong. They must go through lengthy screening and security vetting procedures before they finally see a glimpse of hope for overseas resettlement. The city, however, does not grant resettlement. Upon arriving in Hong Kong, asylum seekers can file non-refoulement claims with the city's Immigration Department, which assesses whether their claims of fear of persecution are substantiated. If so, the government will not refoul them from Hong Kong. It will refer their cases to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to decide their refugee status. If UNHCR recognises them as refugees, it will try to arrange resettlement, mainly to Canada and the US, the world's largest resettlement countries. Only after refugees are resettled do they gain the right to become naturalised citizens. 'But resettlement is not a right for refugees according to UNHCR, which means it is not guaranteed,' said Andrews. Starting from their arrival in Hong Kong, asylum seekers wait an average of 10-15 years to be recognised as refugees and to be resettled in a third country, the social worker said. Peter was a school principal when he fled his country after suffering torture and political persecution. He arrived in Hong Kong in 2016 and had to wait around one year to be recognised as a refugee, which he said was 'relatively fast.' It took him another seven years to be resettled. He said he was thrilled when UNHCR told him that the US had granted him asylum and that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services had approved his resettlement. Niki Wong, a programme manager at Branches of Hope, a Vine Church-founded NGO serving refugees and asylum seekers, told HKFP that refugees endured a longer waiting time over the past few years because Western countries suspended refugee resettlement during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, just as the resettlement programme returned to normal, they were hit by Trump's refugee ban. Wong said that although most US-bound refugees he knows could find a place to live and carry on with their lives in the city, they still felt frustrated and hopeless because of an uncertain future. Decades of waiting Aimé Girimana, who has been in Hong Kong for 21 years, is another African refugee affected by Trump's policy. Girimana, who works as a community partnerships officer at Justice Centre Hong Kong, was a human rights lawyer in an East African country. He arrived in Hong Kong in 2004, leaving behind his wife and children, to escape political persecution in his home country. 'As I knew my life was under threat, I fled from my office directly to the airport,' he told HKFP. At that time, UNHCR – not the Immigration Department – was responsible for assessing persecution claims in Hong Kong. Girimana said it took only three days for him to be recognised as a refugee, but waiting for resettlement was far longer than he had ever imagined. He said UNHCR had difficulties finding him permanent asylum because of his political activism in his home country. In 2006, UNHCR assigned him to be resettled in Canada, but Canadian authorities refused. It was not until December 2023 that he learned the US had expanded the Welcome Corps programme, allowing private individuals to sponsor refugees they know and welcome them to be resettled in the US under USRAP. Girimana successfully reached out to five American sponsors as requested by the programme. He went through the first interview in October and was waiting for the final interview when Trump announced the suspension of USRAP, including the Welcome Corps. 'As a human being, your life is always dependent on others. It's just like that anybody can decide on your life,' he said. Nonetheless, Girimana, who is in his 60s, is grateful to have a job in Hong Kong that allows him to work with the refugee community. It took years for him to get to where he is today. 'It's my duty' When he arrived in Hong Kong, Girimana found it difficult to support himself because refugees and asylum seekers were not allowed to work. He took the initiative to collect food, clothes, and electrical appliances for refugee and asylum seeker families. He also worked with lawmakers and spoke at Legislative Council sessions to raise awareness. Girimana recalled that in his early years in Hong Kong, refugees and asylum seekers were either treated as if they were invisible or faced prejudice. 'Prejudice [against] refugees was really bad. People didn't have any awareness of refugees and thought that refugees were the same as economic immigrants,' he said. Having no legal right to work, most refugees and asylum seekers rely on a monthly allowance that the government only began to provide in 2006. In 2014, the government increased the allowance, giving an adult asylum seeker or refugee a total of HK$3,200 to HK$3,420 in monthly assistance – HK$1,500 for rent, HK$300 for utilities, HK$200 to HK$420 for transport, and HK$1,200 in food coupons – plus a rent deposit of HK$3,000. The amounts have not changed since. In 2010, Girimana was among four refugees and a torture claimant who filed a judicial review of their right to work in Hong Kong. They lost in the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal in 2011 and 2012, respectively. The case ultimately went to the Court of Final Appeal. The top court ruled in 2014, upholding the lower courts' decisions that refugees have no constitutional right to work but do have a 'discretionary permit' granted by the director of the Immigration Department. In 2013, Girimana got his first job in Hong Kong. It set a precedent, allowing refugees with a job offer to apply for permission to work from the Immigration Department. Uzma Naveed, a refugee from a country in South Asia, has been working as a diversity and inclusion coordinator at the Centre for Refugees for nearly two years. She told HKFP that she arrived in Hong Kong 10 years ago with her husband and child after religious persecution forced them to flee their country. Their lives changed overnight, from a comfortable middle-class existence to living hand to mouth. Uzma was finally recognised as a refugee in 2023 after going through exhaustive screenings for eight years, essentially – in her words – 'repeating the trauma again and again.' She and her family are still waiting for UNHCR's resettlement. However, with the USRAP suspension, she does not see much hope in the near future of finding a permanent home. At the Centre for Refugees, she organises activities, including cooking, sewing, yoga, and basketball, for refugees and asylum seekers to build 'a home away from home.' 'Every refugee has some kind of depression. No one is living a good life,' said Uzma, in her 30s. For refugees and asylum seekers – many of whom live in subdivided units – knowing others with similar experiences can be empowering, she added. In early February, four American NGOs filed a lawsuit challenging Trump's refugee ban and funding halt for refugee humanitarian aid. On May 15, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to 'immediately' resettle around 160 refugees who were scheduled to travel to the US on or before February 3. For an additional 120,000 refugees 'who had arranged and confirmable travel' to the US after February 3, the court would appoint an official to help conduct a case-by-case review. However, as of Saturday, the Trump administration has yet to take any action. Peter is unsure about his resettlement, saying it depends on whether the US will lift the ban. Meanwhile, prejudices against asylum seekers and refugees persist. Some Hong Kong lawmakers still talk about 'bogus refugees' who they claim commit crimes and waste public expenditure – allegations that activists call ' racist ' and ' xenophobic.' Despite living in limbo, Girimana is determined to continue raising public awareness. 'It's my duty when I fled my country,' he said, adding that people should not think refugees are economic migrants. 'You could blame the system [of screening refugees], but don't blame those people looking for safety as refugees.'
