(Radio Iowa) – The first Afrikaner refugees from South Africa arrived in Iowa this week. President Trump claims they were victims of racial discrimination and faced “genocide,” but the South African government says that’s not true. Many are white descendants of Dutch colonizers. Renee Hardman, president and C-E-O of Lutheran Services in Iowa, says the organization helped one of two Afrikaner families who now call Iowa home. “While there is lots of dismay about who’s coming over, why they’re coming over, how they came over, we get that,” Hardman says, “but the nonprofits that are resettlement agencies don’t get to pick and choose refugee status. That is a decision that’s made at the federal level.”

Hardman says some people have reached out, concerned L-S-I helped a group of people who didn’t need the help. She says the Afrikaners will require minimal assistance since they will live with other relatives who are already in Iowa. Her focus is on helping other refugees with housing, jobs, and English-language skills.  “Our mission at LSI as a resettlement agency is to be there for refugees that are assigned to our agency,” Hardman says. “We don’t make the call on who’s a refugee. We don’t do that.”

She’s concerned about refugees from other countries who had been screened and vetted but had travel plans canceled when President Trump took office, including those from Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.