President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly said that white South Africans have been racially persecuted in their homeland and have had their land confiscated, is allowing 54 Afrikaners — classified as refugees — to immigrate to the United States beginning this week.
[Note: Afrikaners, who makeup 7.2 percent of the South African population, reportedly own 72 percent of private farmland. Many of those seeking to migrate to the U.S. claim they have been racially discriminated against by the government and are having their land confiscated.]
Although Trump paused nearly all other refugee admissions after his return to the White House in January, The New York Times reported that this select group of white South Africans “were processed much faster than is normal” than other refugees — they’ve waited approximately three months.
Note: Many refugees — who are fleeing war, violence, and poverty from other countries — can often wait years in refugee resettlement camps before they are processed and approved to travel to the U.S.
Karoline Leavitt says white South Africans are fleeing to the U.S. because of “racial persecution.”
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) May 10, 2025
Let’s talk about persecution. In 1913, Black South Africans were banned from owning land. 93% of farmland was handed to white settlers. Entire communities were bulldozed for white… pic.twitter.com/B3LXIFbLA2
U.S. Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) responded to the Trump administration’s decision by writing in a social media post: “Trump shut the door on Afghans who risked their lives for our country, but made a special exception to fast-track white South Africans as refugees. This is racism, plain and simple.”
American civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton also objected. He said on MSNBC: “We’re bringing in white Africans, we don’t know if they’re criminal, we don’t know if they went through a legal process in South Africa.”
Al Sharpton outraged over Trump Administration allowing white South Africans to seek refugee in the U.S.
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) May 11, 2025
“We’re bringing in white Afrikaans, we don’t know if they’re criminal, we don’t know whether they went through an illegal process in South Africa.”
pic.twitter.com/pQDjMKMraq
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller contends that the South Africans epitomize what the refugee program was created for — aiding those persecuted due to a “protected characteristic.” In this case, whiteness. (Trump issued an executive order in February establishing the Afrikaners’ status as refugees.)
Miller: The US refugee program in America has been a catastrophic failure. If you look for example at the Twin Cities area… pic.twitter.com/Nl4ZI5wWd7
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 9, 2025
The South African government has disputed the U.S. claim that Afrikaners qualify for refugee status and asserts that the Afrikaners’ claims of discrimination “do not meet the threshold of persecution required under domestic and international refugee law.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says that white farmers are not facing systematic violence or losing their land through confiscation. He wrote on X: “South Africa is a constitutional democracy that is deeply rooted in the rule of law, justice, and equality.” He added: “The South African government has not confiscated any land.”
[Note: In 1913, South Africa passed the Natives Land Act (a cornerstone of apartheid), which restricted Black South Africans from owning land. The law designated 7% of the country’s land for Black people, while the remaining 93% was reserved for white ownership. It was repealed in 1991, and the ANC hoped to deliver 30% of the country’s farmland back to Blacks, but according to a 2018 report, “only 10% of the farm land had been returned to the indigenous people.”]
Historically, the resettlement of refugees in the U.S. was funded chiefly by the State Department, but since Trump broadly suspended refugee resettlement programs at State in January, a refugee office in the Department of Health and Human Services — through its Office of Refugee Resettlement — will be taking the lead in the case of the Afrikaners, according to the Times.
Under the leadership of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the HHS office, using federal funds, will help Afrikaners find “temporary or longer-term housing” and “basic home furnishings, essential household items and cleaning supplies,” according to a memo cited by the Times.
With the State Department refugee operations largely shuttered, the Trump administration is tasking HHS to resettle the South Afrikaners using emergency funds from the HHS Preferred Communities Program, which is intended for populations with “challenging needs that require special attention, including those with serious medical conditions, women at risk, and elderly refugees.”
.jpg){kind=link}