Deterrence, but Not for Everyone
Published in Der Standard
(Austria) on 13 May 2025
by Manuel Escher (link to original)
(Austria) on 13 May 2025
by Manuel Escher (link to original)
Translated from
by Michael Stehle.
Edited by Patricia Simoni.
The Trump administration is trying to get rid of immigrants with demonstrative severity. It is telling that it is simultaneously bringing white farmers from South Africa into the country.
Don’t even try it! The Trump administration has been trying to get rid of immigrants and refugees for months. In addition to frightening images of emaciated people with shaved heads in El Salvador’s mega-prison, CECOT, it is relying on demonstrative severity: Asylum applications are hardly being processed; even translators who risked their lives in cooperation with American troops in Afghanistan are not being allowed into the country despite previous permission.
However, the MAGA movement has found its heart elsewhere, early on: White farmers from South Africa, many of them heirs to wealth acquired during apartheid, are supposedly threatened by a “genocide.” So, they are being actively brought into the United States. Presidential adviser Stephen Miller, who recently tried to override habeas corpus in the fight against immigration, lectured about refugee definitions: He says the farmers are a “model example” because they have been persecuted exclusively due to a “personal characteristic,” namely their skin color.
Now, it can’t be disputed that the rate of violence in rural regions of South Africa is high. Many Black workers also become victims, but the white farm owners are endangered — often more so because of their property, but sometimes also because of racially motivated violence. The criteria for genocide have certainly not been met, but of course offering them aid is not immoral per se. But offering aid to them alone: that is immoral — and even racist.
Don’t even try it! The Trump administration has been trying to get rid of immigrants and refugees for months. In addition to frightening images of emaciated people with shaved heads in El Salvador’s mega-prison, CECOT, it is relying on demonstrative severity: Asylum applications are hardly being processed; even translators who risked their lives in cooperation with American troops in Afghanistan are not being allowed into the country despite previous permission.
However, the MAGA movement has found its heart elsewhere, early on: White farmers from South Africa, many of them heirs to wealth acquired during apartheid, are supposedly threatened by a “genocide.” So, they are being actively brought into the United States. Presidential adviser Stephen Miller, who recently tried to override habeas corpus in the fight against immigration, lectured about refugee definitions: He says the farmers are a “model example” because they have been persecuted exclusively due to a “personal characteristic,” namely their skin color.
Now, it can’t be disputed that the rate of violence in rural regions of South Africa is high. Many Black workers also become victims, but the white farm owners are endangered — often more so because of their property, but sometimes also because of racially motivated violence. The criteria for genocide have certainly not been met, but of course offering them aid is not immoral per se. But offering aid to them alone: that is immoral — and even racist.
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