BBC News, Washington, DC
Gety picturesA man slept abroad in a car park overnight in Kenya with his wife and infant son in January, consumed by confusion and disbelief.
The family, refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), expected a trip to the United States to resettle within a few hours.
But after US President Donald Trump stopped the American refugee program just two days before the family's departure, the man was told that their trip to America had suddenly canceled-less than 24 hours of takeoff.
“I had no other place to go to,” said the man, who asked to go in the name of Pacito to protect his identity.
He had already moved his family from their home, sold his furniture and most of their property, and prepared for a new life in America. They remain in Kenya, which is a safer possibility than the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they fled the conflict.
They represent only three of nearly 120,000 refugees who have been approved conditionally to enter the United States, but they are now waiting for forgetfulness due to the refugee stop.
Trump's move indicated a major change in the approach followed by successive American leaders. During the era of former President Joe Biden, more than 100,000 refugees came to the United States in 2024 – the highest annual number in nearly three decades.
Since moving from his post in January, Trump has moved quickly to present a promise to hold his campaign “America First”, which greatly included the road restrictions that immigrants can come to the United States.
The effort also included an ambitious deportation program whereby people were deported to a large, notorious prison in El Salvador against the orders of the judge, in addition to nullifying visas from more than a thousand university students, and the provision of illegal immigrants of $ 1,000 per to each.
The White House defended its actions by noting that many of those who are forced by the country are either violent criminals or threatening the interests of America.
But policies were made for a few.
The president signed an executive order in February, which opened the exclusive path of refugees for the white -Africa -Africa who claimed to be victims of “racial discrimination”.
A plane carrying 59 of them landed an airport outside Washington, DC, earlier this month, in a high greeting that included the Deputy Foreign Minister.
“This is not fair,” Bassito commented. “There are 120,000 refugees who have passed in the entire process, examination, security, and medical shows. We have waited for years, but now this (Afrikaans) are only treated in such three months.”
Pasito left the relationship with the relationship. Since he sold all the equipment he needs to work in his musical production, he has struggled over the past few months to find strange jobs to earn money for his family. “It is difficult,” he said.
Trump justified his decision to accept Africans as refugees in the United States because he says they are facing “genocide” – a message that Elon Musk repeated, his close ally in South Africa.
These claims have been distributed for years, although they are widely credible, and South Africa has rejected.
However, the invitation was taken on New Animus-especially among the right-wing right groups in the United States-since a law was issued in South Africa in January that allowed the government to seize lands from white land owners “when it is fair, fair and in the public interest.” The aim of the post -apartheid law was to address frustration over the ownership of non -proportional lands in South Africa; The white population in the country is about 7 %, but it has approximately 72 % of agricultural lands.
Although South African President Cyril Ramavusa said that no land was taken under the new law, days after its approval, Trump ordered the United States to freeze hundreds of millions of dollars to help the country. This was followed by a diplomatic runner.
The naked tense relationship was placed on Wednesday during a tense meeting in the White House between the husband. Trump installed Ramavusa on direct television with the allegations of white “persecution” – Ramavusa's claim categorically.
Analysts have described the broader foreign policy in Trump's second state as isolation, with many moves made to reduce foreign aid and separate the United States from foreign conflicts, as well as reduce immigration.
Trump has also ended tens of billions of dollars in global aid contracts – including money that supports HIV/AIDS -saving programs in South Africa. He justified the discounts by saying that his team determined fraud in aid spending.
These moves appear in a flagrant contradiction with the White House decision to quickly assess the arrival of white South Africa – a fact that the refugee defense groups criticized.
“Each protection should be based on reliable evidence of persecution, and the main question here is related to fairness and equal treatment under the law,” Timothy Young of the unbalanced global organization told BBC.
“If one of the groups can reach humanitarian paths, the Afghan allies, religious minorities and thousands of other families should face serious threats that meet the legal standards of the refugee situation,” said Mr. Young.
Among its other moves, the Trump administration chose not to renew the temporary protest of the Afghans in the United States, saying, “Afghanistan had been improved to improve a security situation” and “a stable economy.” They are now facing deportation.
South Africa does not launch crime numbers on the basis of race, but the latest figures revealed that 6,953 people were killed in the country between October and December 2024.
Among them, 12 in agricultural attacks. Of 12, one of them was a farmer, usually white, while five residents of the farm and four employees were likely to be black.
Meanwhile, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, thousands of civilians have been killed by armed militias in recent years, and about 100,000 again, according to United Nations figures.
Pacito escaped from the Republic of Kendria and said that his wife's family members had been killed.
Among the others who see that the United States is increasingly unlikely to resettle it as refugees, the Hammad family, who are from Gaza but now live in Egypt.
“After what happened with Trump, I think it will be impossible,” said Amjad Had Damm for the BBC.
He and his family applied to obtain a lottery green card for the United States in 2024, but they discovered in May that they had been rejected.
He expressed his confusion about Trump's concern about South Africa whites, as well as other groups.
“What are the Palestinians face, if people in South Africa face genocide?” He asked.
More than 53,000 people have been killed throughout Gaza since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas – the Palestinian armed group that launched a cross -border attack on southern Israel, where about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others took hostages.
It is similar to the confusion expressed by Mr. Hamad and Pacito's views, whose hopes of resettlement in the United States were suspended in January.
Since then, he has been actively left in Nairobi, as he was drifting from one place to another to any place in which someone and his family accept for a few days.
“Sometimes we get food. Sometimes we don't do it,” he said. “We were very struggling.”
Political changes on the American side gives him a little hope that it will be accepted by Trump, but the alternative to returning across Africa to his homeland cannot be conceived. “I can't return,” he said.
