The Episcopal Migration Ministries, which took in $53 million in tax funding to resettle 3,600 people in 2023 alone, is abandoning the next round of refugees, refusing to resettle them.
They are white.
The refugee branch of the church organization has worked for decades, on taxpayer funding, to settle refugees from various sources around the world.
But in a letter obtained by the Gateway Pundit, officials announced they are quitting.
“Just over two weeks ago, the federal government informed Episcopal Migration Ministries that under the terms of our federal grant, we are expected to resettle white Afrikaners from South Africa whom the U.S. government has classified as refugees,” the organization informed the government.
“In light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step. Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the U.S. federal government,” it said.
The church group claimed, “As Christians, we must be guided not by political vagaries, but by the sure and certain knowledge that the kingdom of God is revealed to us in the struggles of those on the margins. Jesus tells us to care for the poor and vulnerable as we would care for him, and we must follow that command.
“Right now, what that means is ending our participation in the federal government’s refugee resettlement program and investing our resources in serving migrants in other ways.”
That means the organization will refuse further federal money, and refuse to assist the refugees who are white.
In an announcement posted online, Sean, W. Rowe, the church’s presiding bishop, claimed that it was “painful” to see ” one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions.”
The letter said for nearly 40 years the EMM “has put hands and feet to our church’s commitment to seek and serve Christ in migrants and refugees.”
Its past sources of refugees have included Ukraine, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Myanmar.
And the letter sought replacement cash for the “more than $50 million” it has been getting annually in federal tax money.
“This is not a loss that can be bridged with donor funds or proceeds from investments. However, we will raise funds for new and expanded migration ministries across the church and for our partners in this ministry.”
The Gateway Pundit report said the decision to end a program helping refugees was “all because the Trump administration dared to classify white South African Afrikaners as refugees in need of protection.”
“The same Episcopal Church that prided itself on aiding persecuted people from war-torn regions is now walking away from its commitments simply because the next wave of refugees are white Christian farmers — victims of violent racial targeting in post-apartheid South Africa,” the report said.
Helping this group, the church announced, would violate its “moral line.”
Afrikaner families for years have faced deadly violence, arbitrary land seizures, a weaponized government and military, brutal attacks on them and their farms, and race-based discrimination.
The violence in South Africa is so bad, in fact, the crimes have prompted human rights organizations to raise an alarm.
It’s not the first deep dive into politics for the church. The report explained it was Mariann Budde, of the Episcopal hierarchy, who famously criticized Trump during a politicized inaugural prayer service in Washington.