White South African Who Came To U.S. After Trump Invite Has Been Detained For Months

AP Photo/Chris Carlson

An Afrikaner who came to the U.S. after President Donald Trump claimed the country would be a safe haven for people like him has been held in federal detention for months since his arrival.

Benjamin Schoonwinkel came to the U.S. in September, believing he would be protected after Trump’s many statements to that effect. But on arriving at an Atlanta airport, he was detained and handcuffed by the U.S. border agents whom Schoonwinkel told he was seeking asylum.

The South African man was transferred to a federal detention facility within two days and has remained there ever since. After leaving behind a life of relative comfort on the word of Trump, he now sleeps on a metal bunk bed.

“I never expected this to happen,” Schoonwinkel said in a video interview with The New York Times this month. “I expected a little bit of red tape.”

Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia has about 2,000 other occupants, most of whom were taken there as a result of Trump’s immigration crackdown. Schoonwinkel says the fact that he is white has perplexed his fellow detainees, most of whom are of Latin American descent.

“They all ask me, ‘What are you doing here?'” he said.

Schoowinkel’s race also stunned his lawyer, Marty Rosenbluth, who, upon taking the case, “assumed he was Black.”

“Why else would he be in ICE custody?” said Rosenbluth. “It never crossed my mind he could be Afrikaner. I thought, how could this be happening?”

Rosenbluth said he knew of Trump’s open-door policy toward Afrikaners. The president has consistently claimed that white Afrikaners are victims of “genocide” and are having their land seized by the government, despite facts to the contrary.

Schoonwinkel’s case directly mirrors the president’s words. His asylum application has notarized proof of an attack on his person and looting of his property in what he says was a racially motivated attack last year.

“This is the most winnable asylum case I have ever had,” Rosenbluth said. “All I have to do is present all of Trump’s rhetoric, and everything his administration has been saying, about South Africa.”

Trump has taken steps to welcome them into the country in a series of moves. In February, he ordered that all foreign assistance to South Africa be halted and that the government promote the “resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination.” The president also claimed that the U.S. did not attend the Group of 20 (G20) held in South Africa last month because the government “refuses to acknowledge or address the horrific Human Rights Abuses endured by Afrikaners.”

It was these actions that prompted a friend of Schoonwinkel, Rick Taylor, to encourage him to come to the U.S.

“When I saw President Trump brought some Afrikaners to the U.S., I contacted Ben,” said Taylor.
“I said, ‘I think this is a good time for you to come here.’”

But despite Trump’s promises, Schoonwinkel has remained in custody for months, with Rosenbluth claiming he has received no response to his emails to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Rosenbluth was eventually informed that upon claiming asylum, Schoonwinkel’s tourist visa was revoked.

Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin echoed this in her statement to The Times. 

“Anyone who claims asylum at a port of entry is subject to mandatory detention while the government investigates their claims,” she said. “If their claims are found to be valid, they will be granted relief. If they are found to not be valid, they are swiftly removed.”

A hearing for Schoonwinkel’s case is set to be held next month.

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