Other Limbo refugees as the US welcomes white South Africans

A man slept in a parking lot overnight in Kenya with his wife and infant son in January, consumed by confusion and unbelief.

The family, refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), was expecting a flight to the United States to move in just hours.

But after US President Donald Trump stopped the US refugee program just two days before the planned family departure, the man was told that their flight to America was abruptly canceled-less than 24 hours before the departure.

“I had nowhere else to go,” said the man who wanted to go with the name of the passion to protect his identity, “BBC told.

He had already moved his family from their home, selling his furniture and most of their belongings, and prepared for a new life in America. They remain in Kenya, which is a more fascinated perspective than the DRC, where they escaped from conflict.

They represent only three of the approximately 120,000 refugees who have been conditionally approved to enter the United States, but now waiting for limbs due to the pause of refugees.

Trump’s move signals a major change in approach, followed by consistent US leaders. Former President Joe Biden over 100,000 refugees came to the United States in 2024 – the highest annual figure in nearly three decades.

Ever since he came to office in January, Trump has quickly passed to fulfill his promise of his America First Program Campaign, which includes dramatically restricting the routes that migrants can come to the United States.

Efforts also include an ambitious deportment program, in which people are deported to the notorious mega-prisoner in El Salvador against the orders of a judge, as well as the cancellation of visas by over a thousand students and offer illegal immigrants a sum of $ 1,000 for “self-designed”.

The White House defended its actions by suggesting that many of those who are forced from the country are either violent criminals or threaten America’s interests.

But exceptions have been made from the policies for the selected several.

The president signed an enforcement order in February, which opened the path of refugees exclusively to Africani – white South Africans, for whom he claims to be victims of “racial discrimination”.

An airplane carrying 59 of them landed at an airport just outside Washington earlier this month in a ceremonial greeting that included the deputy secretary.

“It’s not fair,” the passion commented. “There are 120,000 refugees who have undergone throughout the process, check, security, medical screenings. We have waited years, but now these (Africans) have just been processed in three months.”

The situation left the passion to feel stuck. Since he has sold all the equipment he needs to work in his area of ​​music, in the last few months he has been struggling to find strange jobs to make money for his family. “It’s hard,” he said.

The Trump justified his decision to accept Africans as refugees in the United States because he says they are facing a “genocide” – a message that echoed by Elon Musk, his close ally in South Africa.

Such claims have been spread for years, although they have been widely discredited and denied South Africa.

However, the call acquired new animations-especially among the right-wing groups in the United States-in January, a law was passed in South Africa in January, which allowed the government to seize the land from the white landowners, “when it is fair and fair and in public interest.” The law after Apartheid was intended to deal with the dissatisfaction with the disproportionate property of the land in South Africa; The white population of the country is approximately 7%, but has approximately 72% of agricultural land.

Although South Africa President Cyril Ramafosa said no land had been taken under the new law, days after his adoption, Trump ordered the United States to freeze hundreds of millions of dollars for the country. A diplomatic feud followed.

The wiped bond was exposed Wednesday during a strenuous White House meeting between the couple. Trump planted Ramafosa on live television with allegations of white “pursuit” – a statement of Ramafosa strongly rejected.

Analysts describe the broader foreign policy of Trump’s second term as an isolationist, with numerous moves to reduce foreign assistance and disassemble the United States from foreign conflicts, in addition to reducing immigration.

Trump also discontinued tens of billions of dollars in global aid contracts – including funds that supported HIV/AIDS life -saving programs in South Africa. He justified the cuts by saying his team had identified fraud within the cost of help.

Movements appear in complete contrast with the White House’s decision to quickly track the arrival of white South Africans, a fact that is criticized by refugee intercession groups.

“Any case of protection should be based on credible evidence of persecution. The central issue here is about justice and equal treatment under the law,” Timothy Young told the Non -Profit organization Global Refuge before the BBC.

“So, if a group can gain access to humanitarian paths, then Afghan allies should also pursue religious minorities and thousands of other families who are facing serious threats and who meet the legal criteria for refugee status,” said G -N -Young.

Among its other moves, the Trump administration has chosen not to renew the temporary defense status of Afghans in the United States, saying that “Afghanistan has had an improved security situation” and “stabilizing economy”. They are now facing deportation.

South Africa does not release crime data based on race, but recent data revealed that 6,953 people were killed in the country between October and December 2024.

Of these, 12 were killed in agricultural attacks. Of the 12th, he is one farmer, usually white, while five are inhabitants of farms and four are employees who were probably black.

Meanwhile, thousands of civilians have been killed by armed militia in recent years and nearly 100,000 more displaced, according to UN figures.

Pacito escaped the DRC in 2016, recalling “Weapons everywhere I watched” during time and “without peace”. He said the members of his wife’s family had been killed.

Among others who view the United States as an increasingly likely place to move like refugees is the Hamad family who are from gas but now live in Egypt.

“After what happened to Trump, I think it will be impossible,” Amjad Hamad told the BBC.

He and his family applied for the US green card lottery in 2024, but they realized they had been refused.

He expressed confusion about Trump’s concern about the difficult situation of white South Africans over and over other groups.

“What do the Palestinians face if the people in South Africa face genocide?” he asked.

More than 53,000 people were killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas, the Palestinian Armed Force, which launched a cross -border attack on South Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and 251 others were hostage.

The confusion, voiced by Hamad, is similar to Pacito’s views, whose hopes of moving to the United States in January.

Since then, he has been effectively left a homeless man in Nairobi, moving from place to place where someone will accept him and his family for a few days.

“Sometimes we get food. Sometimes we don’t,” he said. “We fight very badly.”

Changes in US policy give him little hope that he will be accepted by Trump, but the alternative to head to Africa to his homeland is unthinkable. “I can’t go back,” he said.