What’s fair about eagerly letting in one group hoping for a better life while kicking out others seeking the same?
Here’s an easy answer.
Nothing.
Critics frame the repatriation in racial terms since the Afrikaners are White and the people getting the boot are mostly Black and brown. Moreover, the government greased the skids so the South Africans could receive refugee status, a process that often takes years, in just three months.
And get this. The Afrikaners received treatment reserved for foreign dignitaries. The government chartered a plane for them (at taxpayer expense) and when it landed in Washington DC, two high-ranking U.S. government officials greeted the new arrivals.
Is this overt racism? Maybe. The architect of Trump’s immigration plan, his deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, has a history of being hostile toward non-White people. His America First Legal has filed several lawsuits against Black-owned companies seeking to financially help other minority startups, claiming the assistance amounts to anti-White racism. And this is the same administration that falsely claims DEI unfairly gives people of color special treatment — and then gives the South Africans special treatment.
Is this an example of Elon Musk’s influence on Trump? Maybe. Musk believes South Africa has been pushing a policy of genocide against White people, and Trump has parroted the claim. A South African court has ruled there is no “genocide” in the country.
Still, the Afrikaners’ kingly treatment contrasts to the government’s treatment of those already here. Hardworking Haitians in Springfield might be forced to return to their gang-ridden island if a judge lets the administration do away with protections that allow them to be here at least temporarily.
Armando Leonel Reyes Rodriguez remains locked up in an area jail after federal authorities used duplicitous tactics to arrest the illegal immigrant who has been in working in the Dayton area and raising a family while he seeks asylum.
But there’s something else. Trump disdains South Africa’s Expropriation Act, which allows the government to take land using eminent domain under limited circumstances. Trump and his cronies claim that means the government can take the land of White farmers and give it to Black people, even though there’s nothing in the law that allows such an obviously racist move. Team Trump says the non-existent genocide and the land act amount to racism against the Afrikaners.
Bringing in the South Africans could simply be a way for Trump to embarrass a foreign government. We all know the President loves revenge.
Whether it’s racism, retribution, or rashness, the administration’s action isn’t fair. I’m sure the White House could care less about fair, but others do.
The Episcopal Church won’t help resettle the South Africans, calling it “unfathomable” that they receive favoritism over others. Moreover, the church said it would no longer work with the federal government to help other refugees.
The Haitians and the Rodrigues of the world were invited into the country and have not committed a crime. They are simply disposable people being used as pawns so Trump can meet his immigration deportation numbers. (Yes, criminals should be deported, no question.)
Does anyone have a reasonable, rational, position on why letting in one group while deporting others is equitable? Like it or not, Rodriguez and many like him were invited in by our government and allowed to stay.
It’s not fair to let in 59 people Trump finds desirable while kicking to the curb those he doesn’t.
It’s worse than not fair. It’s un-American.
Ray Marcano’s column appears on these pages each Sunday.
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