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South Africa’s government has rejected U.S. accusations that it harassed and intimidated U.S. officials during a raid on a center where white South Africans were applying for refugee status in the United States.
Seven Kenyans were deported from South Africa in a raid on Tuesday for working illegally in the country.
The United States has accused South Africa of publishing the passport details of its officials, calling it “unacceptable” and warning of “serious consequences”.
But South Africa denied this, saying it “takes data security issues extremely seriously”.
The United States is offering asylum status to members of South Africa’s Afrikaans community because it says the community is facing persecution. The South African government rejected this claim.
President Donald Trump’s administration has reduced the number of refugees it accepts from around the world each year from 125,000 to 7,500, but says it will prioritize Afrikaners, mostly descendants of Dutch and French settlers.
Tensions between the two countries have increased since Trump took office.
South Africa after attack on processing center Expresses concern that foreign officials appear to be coordinating with undocumented workers It said it had contacted the United States and Kenya to resolve the matter.
The U.S. State Department said in a statement on Thursday it “condemns in the strongest possible terms the South African government’s recent detention of U.S. officials performing their duties to provide humanitarian support to Afrikaners.”
It has provided no evidence to support its allegation that South Africa released passport information of its officials.
South Africa’s Home Affairs Department said the allegations were “unsubstantiated”.
“South Africa takes all data security issues with the utmost seriousness and operates within strict legal and diplomatic protocols,” it said in a statement.
The group has previously said that no U.S. officials were arrested and that the operation was not conducted at a diplomatic location.
The Kenyan is said to have applied for a work permit but was refused.
The United States has not directly addressed the issue but said it “has worked hard to operate the refugee program within the bounds of the law.”
Trump claimed that Afrikaners were suffering “genocide” despite no evidence that white farmers were more likely to be killed than black farmers.
Earlier this year, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa offered refugee status to Afrikaners after he signed a law allowing the government to expropriate land without compensation in rare circumstances.
The first group of about 50 people flew to the United States on a chartered flight, and it’s unclear how many others have moved or are applying.
The South African government is under pressure to provide more land to black farmers due to the legacy of racist apartheid, with most of South Africa’s private farmland owned by white communities. It stressed, however, that no land had yet been acquired under the new law.
South Africa has made repeated attempts to repair relations with the Trump administration, most notably when Ramaphosa led a high-level delegation to the White House earlier this year.
However, this backfired when Trump ambushed him with images, videos and news reports It is said to show that the government is persecuting white people.
Last month, the United States boycotted the G20 summit in South Africa and said it would not invite South African officials to the meeting since South Africa took over leadership of the world’s largest economic organization.
Additional reporting by Khanyisile Ngcobo in Johannesburg
