The Trump administration on Monday welcomed a small group of white South Africans as refugees, saying they face discrimination and violence at home, which the country's government strongly denies.
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00:00Any adjustment in life, any change takes a while to get used to, but I want you all to know that you are really welcome here and that we respect what you have had to deal with these last few years.
00:18We respect the long tradition of your people and what you have accomplished over the years, and I am sure that you will be successful.
00:30As you know, a lot of you I think are farmers, right?
00:33When you have quality seeds, you can put them in foreign soil and they will blossom, they will bloom.
00:40And we are excited to welcome you here to our country where we think you will bloom and we will hopefully allow you to have fulfilling lives for your children and then we will bloom and we will benefit alongside you.
00:54Through this resettlement program for these folks who were vetted in South Africa and we're sending a clear message that the United States really rejects the egregious persecution of people on the basis of race in South Africa and we welcome these people to the United States and to a new future.
01:22Some of the criteria are making sure that refugees did not pose any challenge to our national security and that they could be assimilated easily into our country.
01:33So the president on February 7th issued an executive order about the egregious conditions in South Africa and all of these folks who have just come in today have been carefully vetted pursuant to our refugee standards and whether or not the broad
01:52refugee programs for other people around the world will be lifted is still an ongoing consideration but again the president has recognized the dire situation of this particular group of people.