Rejected Afrikaner refugee applicants reveal criminal convictions

Several Afrikaner refugee applicants have shared the criminal charges that have led to them being rejected from the resettlement programme.

This comes amid an increase in the number of applicants who have received ineligibility letters.

To date, figures have revealed that over 13 000 ethnic minorities, predominantly white South Africans, have resettled under the US under the President Donald Trump administration.

The programme is open to South Africans who face “racial persecution” or a fear of future persecution to apply for resettlement in the United States.

AFRIKANER REFUGEES ON WHY THEY WERE TURNED DOWN

Speaking to The Guardian this week, several refugee applicants shed light on why they were rejected from the resettlement programme.

The applicants, mostly Afrikaner people who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were distraught after receiving their eligibility letters. Some of them had packed up and sold off their belongings in South Africa and were now faced with “starting over”.

A man in his 60s told the publication that he was rejected as his partner, whom he had jointly applied to the programme with, had a marijuana conviction brought up. The couple had completed the screening process last year and received a rejection letter in June.

He said, “I cried like a baby. It was something I actually believed was attainable. I believed the hype.”

Another couple shared that they had sold all their possessions when they received a rejection letter in July. The husband shared that he had been convicted of trespassing in 2014, for which he had paid a fine and did not go to court. Despite this, he was granted multiple temporary visas to work on farms in the US between 2011 and 2024.

Another man, also in his 60s, admitted to shooting a black person in his job as a security personnel in 1995. The man claimed that he had been investigated by authorities and was not charged, as he was found to have acted in self-defence.

The man applied for a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, and was notified that the reasons behind his rejection were “crime involving moral turpitude” and “commission of acts of torture or extrajudicial killing”.

CAN REJECTION LETTERS BE APPEALED?

Applications have been rejected, and some individuals have had their status revoked for the following reasons: 

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) can revoke applications based on the following:

• Fraud and misrepresentation 
• Ineligibility
• Security and terrorism concerns
• Criminal history

The UCIS has stated that it is under no obligation to grant an appeal to a rejected refugee applicant.

However, in rare cases, the application may be reviewed if evidence is missing or a factual error is found. This is entirely discretionary.

‘DO NOT MISLEAD OR LIE’

According to US YouTuber and intel expert Chris Wyatt, many cases of rejection stemmed from applicants who had not been forthcoming about their past during the screening process.

He said in a video: “I’ll tell you why people are getting denied. Criminal activity, criminal convictions, lying to investigators, and drug offences and drug use.

“Over the past year, I’ve repeatedly said that an act of omission is an act of commission. Do not mislead or lie”

Wyatt explained that this also applied to those who intentionally failed to disclose expunged crimes from their past.

“You’re a liar in their eyes. Expunged doesn’t mean that the record is gone. It just means that you don’t have a personal criminal record. It doesn’t mean the government doesn’t retain records of it. They consider that a lie. You’ve made yourself ineligible”.