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State Department says South African arrivals met U.S. refugee statute as reporters press on 'genocide' claim
Summary
At a State Department press briefing, Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pickett said South African arrivals met the statutory refugee standard while declining to provide new evidence for a presidential claim of 'genocide'; reporters pressed distinctions with other refugee groups and on which office makes a genocide determination.
Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pickett said at a U.S. Department of State press briefing that the South African nationals who recently arrived in the United States “met that standard in statute for refugees.”
Why it matters: reporters raised concerns about disparate speed of treatment compared with Afghan applicants and asked whether the president or the secretary of state is making a legal determination on whether violence in South Africa amounts to genocide. The exchange highlighted tensions over policy priorities, agency roles and the criteria for refugee status.
Pickett said the arrivals reflected a priority set by the president and that the State Department had implemented that priority. He referred reporters to the Department of Homeland Security for questions about Temporary Protected Status and noted that Special Immigrant Visa interviews continue.
On evidence for a genocide finding, Pickett declined to add details from the podium and repeatedly referred reporters to the president’s public comments. He said only that the State Department had “heard harrowing stories” from those who arrived and that the refugees “met the same statute for refugees, that is uniform and standard.”
Reporters pressed whether race affected the decision to prioritize these arrivals; Pickett repeated that the statutory standard was applied and that the decision reflected the president’s priorities rather than details he would discuss from the podium.
No formal determination, investigation or new policy change was announced from the briefing. Questions about the legal mechanics of a genocide designation and evidence for such a finding were not resolved at the podium and were referred by Pickett either to the president’s public statements or to other agencies.
The State Department’s statements leave open whether further internal reviews or formal determinations will be announced later; officials at the podium said that implementation of the president’s priorities would continue to be carried out by the department.
