South Africa to deport 7 Kenyans over illegal work on Afrikaner refugee applications to US

By Mevlut Ozkan

ISTANBUL (AA) - South Africa will deport seven Kenyan nationals after authorities found them working illegally on applications for white Afrikaners seeking refugee status in the US, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.

The ministry, with other law enforcement agencies, carried out an operation in Johannesburg on Tuesday after intelligence showed Kenyan nationals on tourist visas were illegally working on US refugee applications despite earlier visa refusals for such work, according to a ministry statement.

The Kenyans were arrested, issued deportation orders, and barred from reentering South Africa for five years.

“No US officials were arrested in the process, the operation was not conducted at a diplomatic site, and no members of the public or prospective ‘refugees’ were harassed,” the ministry said.

It added that foreign officials “apparently coordinating with undocumented workers naturally raises serious questions about intent and diplomatic protocol.”

The Interior Ministry said the operation underscores South Africa’s shared commitment with the US to combat illegal immigration and visa abuse, while the Foreign Ministry also launched formal diplomatic talks with both the US and Kenya to resolve the matter.

The Trump administration announced the lowest refugee admission ceiling in the country’s history in late October, limiting entry to just 7,500 people for the 2026 fiscal year, with priority given to white Afrikaners from South Africa.

An executive order, issued in February, directs federal agencies to facilitate the resettlement of white South African Afrikaners, described as “victims of unjust racial discrimination,” and to cut US aid to South Africa for its “shocking disregard” of Afrikaners. The South African government has strongly rejected the claims.

Afrikaners are a white ethnic minority who are primarily descendants of Dutch, German and French settlers who arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652 and ruled South Africa during the brutal apartheid regime of racial segregation, which resulted in the violent repression of Black South Africans until 1994.