The Trump administration plans to resettle dozens of white South Africans in the United States as refugees — a move the government in Pretoria says is more about political payback than protecting the vulnerable.
The U.S. granted official refugee status to 54 Afrikaners, descendants of the predominantly Dutch settlers who arrived in what is now Cape Town in 1652. Some of them are farmers and claim to face persecution in South Africa, including having their property confiscated by the government.
“What’s happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told reporters on Friday. “This is race-based persecution.”
South African officials denied that the farmers are being singled out.
“The South African Police Services statistics on farm-related crimes do not support allegations of violent crime targeted at farmers generally or any particular race,” the country’s International Relations and Cooperation Department said Friday in a statement. “There are sufficient structures within South Africa to address concerns of discrimination.”
Even if the Afrikaners’ allegations are true, the South African officials said, they don’t meet the threshold of persecution necessary under domestic and international refugee law.
The government said it would not block the Afrikaners’ departure, but said it wanted assurances they have been “appropriately vetted” before they leave the country to ensure they don’t have any pending criminal cases against them.
“The government of South Africa remains dedicated to constructive dialogue with [the] United States of America, anchored in mutual respect for sovereignty, the rule of law, a shared commitment to a deepening [and] beneficial bilateral partnership,” they said.
Refugees are a special class of migrants. They are supposed to be fleeing government persecution because of their religion, race or other special class.
The Afrikaner refugees come at a time of rising tensions both between the U.S. and South Africa, and within the U.S. over immigration and refugee policy.
The Trump administration says South Africa’s recently enacted Expropriation Act 13 of 2024 allows the government to take the property of the ethnic minority Afrikaners without just compensation, and is part of “countless government policies” that discriminate against them.
In February, South Africa-born Elon Musk, now a key advisor to Mr. Trump, said some of the country’s political leaders are calling for a “genocide” against four million Afrikaners who live there.
Relations between Washington and Pretoria have been strained. The same White House policy that directed the administration to begin laying the groundwork for admitting Afrikaners as refugees also cut off any aid or assistance to South Africa.
In March, the Trump administration expelled South Africa’s ambassador to the U.S., Ebrahim Rasool, after he said in a think tank conference that the MAGA movement was powered by a “white supremacist instinct.”
The Afrikaners have become a flashpoint in the U.S. immigration debate, with immigration groups saying Mr. Trump appears to be helping White foreigners at the exclusion of others.
“We are concerned that the U.S. government has chosen to fast-track the admission of Afrikaners, while actively fighting court orders to provide life-saving resettlement to other refugee populations who are in desperate need of resettlement,” said Rick Santos, president of Church World Service, a major refugee advocacy group.
Mr. Trump in January hit pause on all refugee arrivals. He said the U.S. lacked the “ability to absorb” them.
But Mr. Santos said the fact that the Afrikaners are being welcomed disproves that.
“By resettling this population, the government is demonstrating that it still has the capacity to quickly screen, process, and depart refugees to the United States,” he said. “It’s time for the administration to honor our nation’s commitment to the thousands of refugee families it abandoned with its cruel and illegal executive order.”
Mr. Miller, speaking to reporters, said the refugee system “has been a catastrophic failure.”
He said the Afrikaners, who are fleeing racial persecution, are “an example of the president returning the refugee program to what it was intended to do.”
