Rubio announces new visa restrictions targeting South African officials for ‘race-based discrimination’

Nathan Howard/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a new policy to restrict visas from South African officials alleged to be involved in “race-based discrimination” and “uncompensated land seizures.”

It is the latest action by the Trump administration to target the South African government for allegations that it is mistreating White South Africans, which the government has denied. At the same time, the US has prioritized the admission of White South Africans to the US as refugees.

“The United States remains gravely concerned about racially motivated crime and government-sponsored discrimination occurring against the Afrikaners and other minority populations in South Africa, including race-based discriminatory legislation, threats of land expropriation without compensation, and incitement of racial violence through dehumanizing chants and slogans,” Rubio said in a statement.

Weeks into his second term, President Donald Trump announced that nearly all refugees admitted to the United States would be White South Africans, radically reshaping a decades-long program that had largely serviced people fleeing war, persecution or other dangers.

By late June of this year, the US has admitted more than 7,700 Afrikaners while largely shuttering the country’s refugee program for the rest of the world.

“The South African government has not adequately addressed the previously laid out concerns and so today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy … targeting foreign nationals who are responsible for, or complicit in, the enactment or implementation of laws or policies that enable uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination, and/or the incitement of imminent violence against members of minority ethnic or racial groups in South Africa,” Rubio added in Tuesday’s statement.

“The United States will not allow such behavior to go unchecked. These actions directly undermine peace, economic stability, and the rule of law, and they are incompatible with the pillars of America’s foreign policy,” Rubio said, adding that they “once again strongly urge the South African government to quickly address these egregious actions.”

The administration has alleged that White farmers in the country are being discriminated against under land reform policies that South Africa’s government says are necessary to remedy the legacy of apartheid.

Last year, in a meeting with South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office, Trump screened a video he claimed provided evidence for his false suggestion that White South Africans are being subjected to persecution and “genocide.”

CNN has investigated the claims of White “genocide” in South Africa and found no evidence to back them up.

“What you saw in the speeches that were being made — that is not government policy. We have a multiparty democracy in South Africa that allows people to express themselves,” Ramaphosa said after the video. “Our government policy is completely, completely against what he was saying.”

Nathan Howard/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

美国国务卿马可·卢比奥宣布了一项新政策，限制向涉嫌参与“种族歧视”和“无偿土地征用”的南非官员发放签证。

这是特朗普政府针对南非政府的最新举措，指控其虐待南非白人，但南非政府否认了这些指控。与此同时，美国已将接收南非白人作为难民列入优先事项。

“美国仍然严重关切南非境内针对阿非利卡人和其他少数族裔的种族仇恨犯罪和政府支持的歧视，包括基于种族的歧视性立法、无偿征用土地的威胁，以及通过非人道的口号和标语煽动种族暴力，”鲁比奥在一份声明中说。

唐纳德·特朗普总统在其第二个任期开始几周后宣布，几乎所有被美国接纳的难民都将是南非白人，这彻底改变了一项持续数十年的计划，该计划主要服务于逃离战争、迫害或其他危险的人们。

截至今年6月下旬，美国已接收了超过7700名南非白人，同时基本关闭了该国面向世界其他地区的难民接收计划。

“南非政府没有充分解决之前提出的关切，因此今天，我宣布一项新的签证限制政策……该政策针对那些对制定或实施导致无偿征地、种族歧视和/或煽动针对南非少数族裔或种族群体成员的迫在眉睫的暴力行为负有责任或参与其中的外国公民，”鲁比奥在周二的声明中补充道。

“美国绝不会容忍这种行为不受制止。这些行为直接破坏和平、经济稳定和法治，与美国外交政策的支柱背道而驰，”鲁比奥说，并补充道，他们“再次强烈敦促南非政府迅速解决这些恶劣行径”。

该政府声称，南非的土地改革政策对该国的白人农民存在歧视，而南非政府则表示，这些政策对于纠正种族隔离制度遗留问题至关重要。

去年，在椭圆形办公室与南非总统西里尔·拉马福萨会面时，特朗普播放了一段视频，声称该视频为他关于南非白人正在遭受迫害和“种族灭绝”的错误说法提供了证据。

CNN调查了有关南非白人“种族灭绝”的说法，但没有发现任何证据支持这些说法。

拉马福萨在视频播放后表示：“你们在那些演讲中看到的——那并非政府政策。南非实行多党民主制，允许人民表达自己的观点。我们的政府政策与他所说的完全相反。”