The Episcopal Church has abruptly ended its longstanding partnership with the White House due to a refusal to assist in the resettlement of white South Africans granted refugee status by Donald Trump.

Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe announced the church’s decision a day after the first group of South Africans arrived in Virginia following the Trump administration’s expedited processing of their applications.

The group in question includes 49 Afrikaners—a white minority group in South Africa—whom the Trump administration claims have faced land seizures by the South African government without compensation, a claim that Cape Town has denied.

Trump issued an executive order in February accusing the South African government of facilitating a ‘genocide’ against white farmers. 

However, some have alleged Trump is stoking racial tensions and prioritizing white applicants while simultaneously shutting down much of South Africa’s refugee program. 

After fast-tracking the refugee applications of the Afrikaners, the Episcopal Church announced this week it was ending its program to help resettle the South African migrants as it cites its ‘commitment to racial justice and reconciliation.’ 

The church also cited its ties to the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, with Rowe saying the church was against showing ‘preferential treatment’ to one group of refugees over another.

Rowe said the church has pledged to shut down its migration services’ links to the federal government entirely by the end of the year, in a clear show of protest against Trump’s acceptance of the 49 Afrikaners. 

The move from the Episcopal Church marks the end of almost four decades of work with the federal government to help resettle refugees. 

The fallout primarily stems from Trump’s moves to rapidly reshape and downsize the federal government since retaking office, including ending almost all foreign aid through the now-gutted USAID program. 

While the Trump administration shut down legal pathways for many refugees to enter the US – including in South Africa – his decision to facilitate the applications from the Afrikaners to escape alleged genocide has led to claims of preferential treatment. 

While the Church World Service said it would be open to resettling the South Africans, it has also publicly stated they should not be fast-tracked while ‘life-saving resettlement to other refugee populations’ is rejected. 

Another faith-based aid group, the World Relief, also urged the White House to continue migration programs ‘for a broad range of individuals who have fled persecution on account of their faith, political opinion, race, or other reasons outlined under US law.’ 

Before the migrants arrived this week in Virginia, Collen Msibi, a spokesman for South Africa’s transport ministry, said the 49 refugees would have to be vetted by police to ensure there were no criminal cases or outstanding warrants against them before being allowed to leave. 

When Trump was asked about the South Africans arrival, he said: ‘It’s a genocide that’s taking place, and you people don’t want to write about it.

‘It’s a terrible thing that’s taking place, and the farmers are being killed; they happen to be white. Whether they are white or black makes no difference to me, but white farmers are being brutally killed, and their land is being confiscated in South Africa.

Top Trump adviser, South African-born Elon Musk, has previously said there was a ‘genocide of white people’ in South Africa and accused the government of passing ‘racist ownership laws.’ 

The flight will be the first in a ‘much larger-scale relocation effort’, according to White House deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller.

He added that what was happening to Afrikaners in South Africa ‘fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created’, adding: ‘This is persecution based on a protected characteristic – in this case, race. This is race-based persecution.’

But the South African government has firmly rejected these accusations.

They do not qualify for that status, according to us,’ Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said at a press briefing on Monday.

‘There is no data at all that backs that there is persecution of white South Africans,’ he added, saying crime in South Africa affects everyone irrespective of race.

In a statement on Friday, South Africa’s Foreign Ministry said accusations the government discriminated against the country’s white minority were ‘unfounded’ and the US’s resettlement scheme was an attempt to undermine the country’s ‘constitutional democracy’. 

The clash also comes amid heightened tensions between the Trump administration and South Africa. 

In March, South Africa’s ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, was expelled after accusing Trump of using ‘white victimhood as a dog whistle’, leading to the US accusing Mr Rasool of ‘race-baiting’.

Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has cut all US financial assistance to South Africa, citing disapproval of its land policy and of its genocide case at the International Court of Justice against Washington’s ally, Israel.

There are around 2.7 million Afrikaners among South Africa’s population of 62 million, which is more than 80 per cent black.

Whites still own three-quarters of private land and have about 20 times the wealth of the black majority, according to international academic journal the Review of Political Economy.