News24 | UPDATE | SA authorities issue deportation orders for illegal Kenyan ‘volunteers’ at US ‘refugee’ centre

South African authorities, including the police and the Department of Home Affairs, served seven Kenyan nationals doing illegal paid work in Johannesburg with deportation orders.

• Police and the home affairs department conducted a “standard” immigration operation on Wednesday, identifying illegal Kenyan workers.
• The Kenyans were seemingly employed to assist the processing of so-called “Afrikaner refugees” by the US.
• No Americans were held, and the operation did not take place on a diplomatic premises.

South African authorities, including the police and the Department of Home Affairs, served seven Kenyan nationals doing illegal paid work in Johannesburg with deportation orders on Wednesday.

The Kenyans were working for an intermediary organisation processing so-called “Afrikaner refugees” and were in the country on a 90-day tourist visa when they were apprehended by the authorities.

Their initial visa applications to do volunteer work in South Africa were denied by the Department of Home Affairs, which was later informed that the group was indeed engaged in paid-for work.

According to News24’s information, American officials were kept informed of the unfolding “standard” immigration operation by the police and the home affairs department.

The Kenyans’ passports were checked, and it was found that they did not have the correct entry visas.

They are expected to return to Kenya voluntarily on Wednesday night.

No American official was arrested by South African authorities, and there was no interference with the refugee programme conducted by the US, a senior government official who has direct knowledge of the events told News24.

The premises where the refugee processing and screening are conducted are also not diplomatic premises or locations.

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In a statement on Wednesday morning, the Ministry of Home Affairs said the operation took place after “intelligence reports indicated that a number of Kenyan nationals had recently entered South Africa on tourist visas and had illegally taken up work at a centre processing the applications of so-called ‘refugees’ to the United States”.

This was in spite of the fact that the Kenyan nationals’ visa applications had been declined. It was discovered during the operation that they were working while in possession of tourist visas, and they were arrested and handed deportation orders which means they will not be allowed to enter South Africa for five years.

“The presence of foreign officials apparently coordinating with undocumented workers naturally raises serious questions about intent and diplomatic protocol. The Department of International Relations and Cooperation has initiated formal diplomatic engagements with both the United States and Kenya to resolve this matter,” the ministry said in the statement.

Despite claims that United States embassy staff were harassed by South African officials during the operation, the ministry added: “No US officials were arrested in the process, the operation was not conducted at a diplomatic site, and no members of the public or prospective ‘refugees’ were harassed.”

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The ministry said that the operation was “carried out according to the same procedures that have seen home affairs dramatically intensify deportations over the past 18 months” as the authorities work to turn around “long-standing abuse of our immigration and visa system”.

“The operation reinforces Home Affairs’ commitment to enforcing the rule of law without fear or favour, as no person or entity is above these laws. It also showcases the commitment that South Africa shares with the United States to combating illegal immigration and visa abuse in all its forms,” it said.

US publications reported that the US government was seeking clarification on events and would comment once the facts are confirmed.

While US State Department principal deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement that “interfering in our refugee operations is unacceptable”, News24 has established that US officials were continually informed of the operation.

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Daily Maverick reported in August that the US State Department had asked the South African government to expedite visas for about 30 workers based in Kenya, so that they could assist with the processing of the Afrikaner “refugees”. The plan was to bring them to South Africa for around two years.

It also reported that Church World Service (CWS), the organisation tasked by the US State Department with processing Afrikaner “refugees” for resettlement in the USA, had applied for volunteer” visas from the Department of Home Affairs for about 30 Kenyan workers.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced that the only people the US would allow into the country as refugees were Afrikaners from South Africa.

The South African government has consistently denied that Afrikaners are being targeted and persecuted in the country.