US Faces Allegations of Hiring Undocumented Workers at South Africa Refugee Centre

South Africa has formally accused the United States of employing Kenyan nationals without valid work permits at a facility dedicated to processing refugee applications from white South Africans.

The South African Department of Home Affairs revealed in a statement that seven Kenyans were arrested on Tuesday after intelligence reports indicated they had entered the country on tourist visas but were illegally engaged in employment at the centre.

The US, in response as reported by Agence France-Presse, has labelled South Africa’s actions as “interference” with its efforts to grant refugee status to Afrikaners. Washington maintains the Afrikaner community faces persecution.

Despite reducing overall refugee intake from around 125,000 to 7,500 annually, the US has declared its intention to prioritize applications from Afrikaners, largely descendants of Dutch and French settlers. This decision has contributed to the growing strain in relations between Pretoria and the Trump administration.

Authorities in South Africa have stated that the arrested Kenyan nationals will be deported and barred from re-entering the country for five years. According to the Department of Home Affairs, they were found “engaging in work despite only being in possession of tourist visas, in clear violation of their conditions of entry”.

There are concerns that US officials may have collaborated with undocumented workers, leading South Africa to reach out to both the US and Kenya for a resolution. The department emphasized this raid demonstrates the shared commitment to combating illegal immigration and visa abuse.

It’s understood that no US citizens were arrested, and the operation did not occur on a diplomatic site. However, Tommy Pigott, principal deputy spokesperson for the US State Department, speaking to US publications, said the department is “seeking immediate clarification from the South African government” and expects “full cooperation and accountability.”

“Interfering in our refugee operations is unacceptable,” Pigott was quoted as saying by The Hill.

The US embassy in South Africa has identified RSC Africa, a Kenyan-based refugee support centre operated by Church World Service (CWS), as the entity handling the Afrikaner applications. Efforts to obtain a comment from RSC Africa by the BBC have so far been unsuccessful.

President Trump has repeatedly asserted that Afrikaners are experiencing a “genocide” in South Africa, a claim refuted by evidence suggesting white farmers are not disproportionately targeted by crime. The offer of refugee status followed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s move to allow for land expropriation without compensation in certain cases.

Approximately 50 Afrikaners have already arrived in the US on a chartered flight, though the exact number of ongoing applications and arrivals remains unclear. The South African government is under pressure to redistribute land from white ownership, a legacy of the apartheid era, to Black farmers, though they maintain no land has yet been seized under the new law.

Attempts to improve relations, such as President Ramaphosa’s visit to the White House earlier this year, reportedly faltered when President Trump presented him with what he claimed was evidence of persecution against white people, including a video of Julius Malema singing “Shoot the Boer.” However, a South African court has previously ruled the song does not constitute hate speech.

The tense relationship culminated last month with the US boycotting a G20 summit in South Africa and a refusal to invite South African officials to US-led meetings.

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