American officials welcomed a group of 59 white South Africans at Washington Dulles International Airport on Monday afternoon, in a ceremony greeting them as refugees based on the argument that they are fleeing discrimination and racially based violence in their home country.

South African officials have cast the move as a politically motivated attempt to discredit the country. The Trump administration has criticized the South African government for having a close relationship with Iran and for its stance against Israel.

A group of 59 white South Africans has arrived in the US, where they are to be granted refugee status. President Donald Trump has said the refugee applications for the country's Afrikaner minority had been expedited as they were victims of "racial discrimination".