The White House condemned the Episcopal Church on Tuesday after it withdrew from federal refugee resettlement programs in protest when the government asked the church to resettle white refugees from South Africa.
In a Monday letter, a top church leader noted South Africa’s history of Apartheid and said that assisting the refugees cuts against its “steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation.” The Episcopal Church’s government relations arm had had touted in 2024 its efforts to help “undocumented immigrants.”
“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,” Anna Kelly, a deputy press secretary at the White House, told The Daily Signal. (Afrikaner is an ethnic term to designate white South Africans, who were originally Dutch.)
“Any religious group should support the plight of Afrikaners, who have been terrorized, brutalized, and persecuted by the South African government,” Kelly added. “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.”
“President [Donald] Trump has made it clear: refugee resettlement should be about need, not politics,” she concluded.
Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe announced the church’s decision in an open letter Monday. He noted that, under the new administration, “the previously bipartisan U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in which we participate has essentially shut down.”
Then, two weeks ago, “the federal government informed Episcopal Migration Ministries that under the terms of our federal grant, we are expected to resettle white Afrikaners from South Africa whom the U.S. government has classified as refugees.”
“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,” Rowe added. “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.”
While the Episcopal Church’s work with the federal government will end, Rowe announced that the Episcopal Migration Ministries will continue its work through global connections and fundraising.
In a previous statement, the Episcopal Church noted that Episcopal Migration Ministries “has helped welcome and resettle more than 105,000 refugees and other migrants.” That statement noted that “many diocese, parishes, and Episcopal networks provide resources, support, and care for asylum seekers, undocumented immigrants, refugees, and other migrant communities.”
The Episcopal Church did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment about the White House’s accusation, or The Daily Signal’s request for comment on serving illegal aliens.
In a February executive order, Trump condemned South Africa’s Expropriation Act 13 of 2024, legislation enabling the government to “seize ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation.” He also condemned “disproportionate violence against racially disfavored landowners.”
“White farmers are being brutally killed,” Trump told reporters on Monday.
The South African government claimed that “the foundational premise” of Trump’s order “lacks factual accuracy and fails to recognize South Africa’s profound and painful history of colonialism and Apartheid.” The government denounced “what seems to be a campaign of misinformation and propaganda aimed at misrepresenting our great nation.”
Defenders of the expropriation law cite South Africa’s history of racial segregation under white minority rule, and reference a 2017 land audit finding that white people, who comprise 8% of the population, owned about three-quarters of farms and agricultural holdings. Advocates say the government could only buy land for redistribution to black owners under a “willing-seller, willing-buyer” model, while large amounts of white-owned land remained unused, Time Magazine reported.
Critics like Trump and Elon Musk, however, note a history of violence against white farmers and the use of political songs that translate to “kill the white farmer.” The song’s defenders say it is symbolic of fighting Apartheid, rather than a suggestion of violence in the here and now.
Trump has suspended contracts to help resettle refugees and immigrants, which received large amounts of taxpayer money under the previous administration. My book, “The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government,” discusses the public-private partnerships with non-profits moving immigrants across the country.
