Rubio tries to defend Trump’s refugee agenda, points to emphasis on ‘assimilation’
At a political event in April, Donald Trump bragged, “We suspended all refugee resettlement,” as if this were something to be proud of. The president quickly added, however, “except for persecuted South Africans.”
While the Republican administration has gone to brutal lengths to block refugees from reaching American soil, the White House has simultaneously shown endless compassion for one group of people: white South Africans. The Washington Post, relying on State Department data, recently reported that only 6,069 people have been admitted to the United States as refugees since October. Of them, 6,066 were from South Africa.
During a congressional hearing Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio tried to present a defense for the administration’s approach. MS NOW reported:
Asked about the administration’s program to resettle white South Africans in the U.S. as refugees, Rubio said it is in the U.S.’ national interest to allow people in who “can quickly assimilate into society and be successful.”
“The case you point to is a very specific one, probably a time-limited one, and that is we have gauged that there is real interest from a unique subset of people in South Africa who would be interested to coming in the United States, and who we assess have a high likelihood of rapid assimilation and success in our society,” he said.
It was at roughly this point when Democratic Rep. Grace Meng of New York emphasized the fact that many refugees from Afghanistan had already become welcome neighbors in her congressional district, notwithstanding the fact that the administration Rubio helps lead plans to deport them, even as it welcomes white South Africans.
It’s also worth emphasizing for context that, as Reuters reported in March, thousands of white South Africans have actually left the United States and returned to their home country, “despite Trump’s statements that the white minority is being persecuted by the country’s Black majority government.”
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Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
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