Episcopal Church Refuses to Help Resettle White South Africans

The Episcopal Church has refused a Trump administration request to help resettle white South Africans on their way to the U.S.

Episcopal Presiding Bishop Rev. Sean Rowe told church members in an open letter that the church does not support the administration action.

"In light of our church's steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step," he said.

Rowe added that it will end its refugee assistance to the administration, saying, "Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the U.S. federal government."

Rowe told church members that the decision is indeed politically motivated. "I have said before that no change in political fortunes alters our commitment to stand with the world's most vulnerable people, and I want to reaffirm that promise."

The first group of white South African refugees is set to arrive in the U.S. on Monday. The effort was set in motion through an executive order from President Donald Trump in February when he denounced the South African government for "policies designed to dismantle equal opportunity in employment, education, and business and hateful rhetoric and government actions fueling disproportionate violence against racially disfavored landowners."

Church World Service is another faith-based organization that has assisted with refugee resettlement. That group will help the South Africans. But CWS President Rick Santos is also critical of the Trump administration's immigration policies.

"We are concerned that the U.S. government has chosen to fast-track the admission of Afrikaners," he said, "while actively fighting court orders to provide lifesaving resettlement to other refugee populations who are in desperate need of resettlement."

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