A US-funded flight carrying the first group of 49 white South Africans to be granted refugee status has landed in Washington, after leaving Johannesburg on Sunday.
Relations between South Africa and the US have been tense for months after President Donald Trump said members of the country's Afrikaner minority were victims of racial discrimination.
This was dismissed by the South Africa's Foreign Minister Ronald Lamona on Monday, who said there is no persecution of white Afrikaner South Africans, adding that police reports debunk President Trump's assertion.
South Africa says any allegations of persecution would not meet the threshold required under domestic and international refugee law.
The United Nations refugee agency has confirmed that it is not involved in the resettlement scheme, nor was it asked to take part in any of the screening.
Given the Trump administration's hard line position on refugees, it is notable the process did not involve the UNHCR, showing how much the white Afrikaners has been fast-tracked and in a way that has not been done for others.
The US has criticised domestic South African policy, accusing the government of seizing land from white farmers without any compensation, something which the South African nation has denied.
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