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 President Cyril Ramaphosa will visit the White House next week, his office said Thursday, days after the arrival in the U.S. of the first group of White South Africans, having been granted refugee status under a new Trump administration policy.

Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau told the refugees that the U.S. is the "land of the free" after they arrived at Dulles International Airport on Monday.