Episcopal Church says it won’t help Trump resettle White South Africans

The Episcopal Church is ending its refugee resettlement agreement with the government rather than comply with a federal directive to help resettle White South Africans arriving in the United States as refugees, citing its “steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation.”

The church’s decision Monday, the same day as dozens of Afrikaners granted refugee status landed at Dulles International Airport, drew criticism from the White House and Vice President JD Vance.

The church’s Presiding Bishop, Sean Rowe, said in a letter that the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, which the church’s resettlement ministry participated in for decades, “has essentially shut down” since January, with no refugees arriving and hundreds of staff laid off. Then, several weeks ago, the Trump administration told the church that it would be expected to resettle the White Afrikaners under the terms of its federal grant.

Rowe said the church wouldn’t do so given the “highly unusual manner” in which the federal government selected the White South Africans, who received “preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years.” Instead, the church would end its refugee resettlement grant agreements with the government by the end of the fiscal year in September.

“I am saddened and ashamed that many of the refugees who are being denied entrance to the United States are brave people who worked alongside our military in Iraq and Afghanistan and now face danger at home because of their service to our country,” he wrote. “I also grieve that victims of religious persecution, including Christians, have not been granted refuge in recent months.”

Episcopal Migration Ministries said it’s one of 10 national agencies that works with the federal government to resettle refugees in the United States. In 2024, the organization accounted for about 5,400 of the roughly 100,000 refugees resettled through the federal government.

“The Episcopal Church’s decision to terminate its decades-long partnership with the U.S. government over the resettlement of 59 desperate Afrikaner refugees raises serious questions about its supposed commitment to humanitarian aid,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement. “The Afrikaners have faced unspeakable horrors and are no less deserving of refugee resettlement than the hundreds of thousands of others who were allowed into the United States during the past Administration.”

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond Tuesday to requests for comment, but on Monday, Vance posted a link to an article about the Episcopal Church’s decision.

Vance added a one-word reaction: “Crazy.”

Rowe said the church would pursue other avenues to support refugees.

President Donald Trump has said that Afrikaners, who are descended from mostly Dutch settlers in South Africa, face racial discrimination - allegations that South Africa’s government denies. He also claimed on Monday, without providing evidence, that a genocide is taking place in the country.

Trump has cited a South African land redistribution law signed in January, which seeks to redress the imbalance in land ownership in South Africa after four decades of apartheid rule, as evidence of discrimination against White South Africans - though no land has been seized under the legislation.

No South Africans of any race, ethnicity or linguistic group met U.N. criteria for refugee resettlement last year, according to United Nations figures. A State Department memo obtained by The Washington Post said most of the 59 Afrikaners arriving in the United States “have witnessed or experienced extreme violence with a racial nexus,” including home invasions, murders or carjackings that took place up to 25 years ago.

Another of the 10 groups involved in the resettlement of refugees in the United States, the Church World Service (CWS), on Friday expressed its “deep concern” at the plan to admit Afrikaners as refugees, saying the move demonstrated that the government “still has the capacity to quickly screen, process, and depart refugees to the United States.” However, the CWS said in a statement that it would continue to serve all eligible refugees, including Afrikaners.

Last month, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services - the largest refugee resettlement agency in the world and the largest of the national resettlement groups - said it was ending its century-old program because of the “drastic” government cuts.

The Trump administration’s attempts to halt the vast majority of refugee admissions have faced legal objections. Last week, a judge ordered the administration to admit around 12,000 refugees, according to the Associated Press.

Separately Monday, the Department of Homeland Security announced an end to the temporary protected status for Afghans, which was granted by the Biden administration following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and deteriorating conditions under the Taliban.