Trump Welcomes White South Africans as Refugees Despite South Africa Denying Any Persecution

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The Trump administration is beginning the relocation of white Afrikaner South Africans to the United States under a new refugee program that claims they are being persecuted by their Black-led government. The first group of about two dozen people is expected to arrive Monday at Dulles International Airport, U.S. officials said.

President Donald Trump initiated the program through a February executive order, asserting that Afrikaners — descendants of Dutch and French settlers — are victims of racial violence and discriminatory policies in post-apartheid South Africa.

However, South African officials strongly reject these claims, calling them “completely false” and politically motivated. They argue that Afrikaners remain among the country’s most economically privileged and are fully integrated into public life — including serving in government, business, and maintaining cultural institutions.

Trump and South African-born adviser Elon Musk have pointed to a series of violent farm attacks on white rural landowners as evidence of persecution. While South Africa acknowledges the attacks and condemns them, it insists they are not racially motivated and occur alongside broader violent crime that affects all racial groups. In 2023, there were 49 farm homicides in a country with over 20,000 murders annually.

The administration also cites affirmative action policies and “reverse racism” as justification. Critics claim the government’s land reform and employment equity efforts are designed to limit opportunities for whites — a charge South Africa denies.

Afrikaners are only a portion of South Africa’s 4.5 million white citizens, and no similar refugee program has been extended to whites of British or other heritage. The decision to prioritize Afrikaners — often conservative and Christian — has raised concerns of political favoritism, particularly as Trump’s broader refugee program remains suspended for most other global applicants.