The first 49 white South Africans granted refugee status for being deemed victims of racial discrimination under an offer by US President Donald Trump flew to the US on Monday.
Under Trump, Washington has blocked mostly non-white refugee admissions from the rest of the world but is prioritising Afrikaners.
Treating white South Africans as refugees fleeing oppression has drawn a mixture of alarm and ridicule by South African authorities, who say the Trump administration has waded into a domestic issue it does not understand.
The charter plane carrying the 49 from Johannesburg arrived at Washington Dulles Airport at around 16.30pm. They were expected to participate in a press conference before boarding flights to different US destinations.
Some were heading to Democratic-leaning Minnesota, which has a reputation for welcoming refugees, while others planned to go to Republican-led states such as Idaho and Alabama, sources said.
The South Africa government has maintained there is no evidence of persecution.
Speaking at a conference in Ivory Coast, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the white South Africans had ostensibly left because they were opposed to policies aimed at addressing racial inequality persisting since apartheid.
"We think that the American government has got the wrong end of the stick here, but we'll continue talking to them," he said.
People interviewed by Reuters in Cape Town on Monday said they bore no ill will to their departing compatriots but doubted they would find life much better in the US.
"I don't believe in running away from problems, you know, we've got a lovely country, and we make it work," said Robert Skeen, a 47-year-old Afrikaner selling boerewors rolls.
"We're really blessed in South Africa ... with all the drama going on, it's still one of the best countries in the world to live in."
A spokesperson for the US department of health and human services said on Friday that it was working with the state department to support the South Africans' resettlement, without giving details about what kind of assistance they would receive.
The spokesperson added that more arrivals were expected in the coming months. The state department paid for Monday's charter flight, according to someone familiar with the matter. – Reuters
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