Trump admin live updates: Trump says Hamas will release hostage Edan Alexander

With the first flights of white Afrikaner South Africans set to arrive as early next week, the White House was pressed on why bringing them to the U.S. as refugees is a priority for the administration -- as it is cracking down on other kinds of immigration.

"This group in South Africa has faced racial persecution," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in Friday's press briefing. She went on to claim their farmland is being taken away, though the law passed by South Africa earlier this year does not allow land to be expropriated without an agreement with the owner.

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller called it a "really exciting news story" as he argued President Donald Trump is returning to the refugee program's intention of providing a safe solution for individuals forced to leave their country due to conflict and not a "solution for global poverty."

"What's happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of what refugee program was created. This is persecution based on a protected characteristic, in this case, race," he said.

Miller said next week's flight is "just the beginning of what's going to be a much larger-scale effort. And so those numbers are going to increase."

-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart, Kelsey Walsh and Selina Wang

The Pentagon has given the military service academies and the service’s senior service institutions, like the Army War College, until May 21 to identify and remove books from their libraries that touch on diversity, race, and gender issues.

The new memo by the Pentagon’s top personnel officer standardizes the process that had begun at the U.S. Naval Academy where 381 books had been removed from its library so it could be in compliance with Pentagon orders to follow the Trump Executive Order from January to eliminate “any program, element, or initiative that was established to promote divisive concepts…or gender ideology.”

The Pentagon memo will establish a temporary Academic Libraries Committee "comprised of knowledgeable leaders, educators, and library professionals" from within DOD who will help identify and "sequester" the offending books for further review. The memo said the review of books would be "deliberate" and conducted by "experts in the fields of education and the department's mission."

The memo also includes an attachment that lists 20 official search terms to be used by the military’s academic institutions to find books that will be reviewed by the committed.

Among the 20 terms are: "Affirmative action," “Allyship", “anti-racism," "critical race theory”, discrimination”, “diversity in the workplace”, “diversity, equity, and inclusion”, Gender affirming care”, “gender dysphoria”, “gender expression”, “gender identity”, “gender nonconformity”, “gender transition, "transgender military personnel”, “transgender people” transsexualism”, “transsexuals”, and "white privilege.”

-ABC News' Luis Martnez

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said on Friday the administration was "actively looking at" suspending habeas corpus (a person's right to challenge the legality of their arrest or detention) as part of the administration's crack down on illegal immigration.

"Well, the Constitution is clear, and that, of course, is the supreme law of the land, that the privilege of the written habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion," Miller said as he gaggled with reporters at the White House. "So that's an option we're actively looking at. Look, a lot of it depends on whether the court will do the right thing or not."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked on Friday why the administration chose to abruptly fire the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden.

Hayden served in the position since 2016. She was the first African American and first woman to serve in the role. She was appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed in a 74-18 vote in the Senate.

"We felt she did not fit the needs of the American people," Leavitt said, claiming Hayden was pursuing DEI initiatives that the administration is opposed to and "putting inappropriate books" in the library.

"We don't believe that she was serving the interests of the American taxpayer well. So she has been removed from her position and the president is well within his rights to do that," Leavitt said.