Hours after he took office, Trump shut down the refugee resettlement program, effectively ending a pathway for refugees to secure asylum in the U.S. and choking off all funding for refugee resettlement.

The first set of 49 white South Africans to be granted refugee status by President Donald Trump's administration are on their way to the US. On Sunday they boarded a flight from Johannesburg which is due to land in Washington DC later on Monday.

The newly arrived people are from the ethnic minority of Afrikaners, the group of whites who ruled South Africa during apartheid.