Refugee advocates were outraged Tuesday after 59 Afrikaners, including children, arrived as refugees fleeing post-apartheid South Africa.

The Trump administration is welcoming a small group of white South Africans as refugees, saying they face discrimination and violence at home.

The Episcopal Church’s migration service is refusing a directive from the U.S. federal government to help resettle white South Africans granted refugee status, citing the church’s longstanding commitment to racial justice and reconciliation.

A group of 49 white South Africans has departed their homeland for the United States on a private charter plane having been offered refugee status by the Trump administration.

The U.S. Embassy in South Africa says it has received a list of more than 67,000 people interested in refugee status in the U.S. under President Donald Trump’s plan to relocate members of a white minority group he claims are victims of racial discrimination by their Black-led government.

U.S. President Donald Trump has followed through on his promise to punish South Africa by signing an executive order stopping all aid and assistance to the country over what he called a human rights violation against a white minority group.