A flight paid for by the US brought the initial group of 59 white South Africans into Washington where the Trump government is to provide them with refugee status.
Trump Justifies Fast-Tracking Refugee Applications
President Donald Trump has stated the applications for the nation’s Afrikaner minority as refugees had been fast-tracked because they were victims of “racial discrimination”.
The government of South Africa has rejected this with any claims of persecution, it claimed, not qualifying to the required levels in “refugee law”.
Immigrant rights activists condemned the expedited refugee program calling it “unfair” for the “most vulnerable.” Nearly all refugee admissions, including those from countries experiencing war, have been suspended by the Trump administration.
Warm Reception at Washington Airport
The group of white South African refugees, who arrived in Washington DC on Monday, was given a warm reception by US authorities at the airport.
Some cradled young children in their arms and waved tiny American flags in the arrival area lined with red, white and blue balloons on walls.
In the US, it would normally take months, even years, to process refugees, but this group was fast-tracked. UNHCR – the UN refugee agency – told the BBC it had no part in the screening, as is typical.
Trump Cites Genocide as Reason
Asked point-blank on Monday why the refugee claims of Afrikaners had been given priority over others, Trump explained that a “genocide” was happening and that “white farmers” were being specifically targeted.
“Farmers are being killed, they happen to be white, but whether they’re white or black makes no difference to me.”
Land Seizure Controversy in South Africa
The US has denounced South African policy, with the government accused of confiscating land from white farmers without compensation an accusation which South Africa claims did not occur.
Last month President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a disputed piece of legislation under which the government can take land owned privately by individuals without compensation in certain conditions, if it is deemed “equitable and in the public interest”.
There had been frustration in South Africa at the slow rate of land reform since the end of the racist apartheid regime three decades ago.
White South Africans constitute 7.3% of the population, yet own the vast majority of privately owned farmland, a 2017 government report said.
Musk’s Controversial Comments
One of Trump’s most trusted advisers, South Africa-born Elon Musk, has also previously stated there was a genocide of white people in South Africa and accused the government of enacting “racist ownership laws.”.
His accusations of a white genocide have been universally rejected.
Political Backlash in the US
Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen on Monday called the resettlement “baffling” in light of the “indefinite suspension for thousands of legitimate asylum seekers” from elsewhere.
In a statement that was e-mailed to the BBC, Gregory Meeks, senior Democratic member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Trump’s refugee resettlement was “not just a racist dog whistle, it’s a politically motivated rewrite of history”.
“Refugee policy should be for the protection of the vulnerable, not the pursuit of an extremist agenda,” he said.
Legal Challenge Against Policy of Trump
Melissa Keaney, a lawyer with the International Refugee Assistance project, said that the White House’s move to expedite the Afrikaners’ arrival was “a lot of hypocrisy and unequal treatment”.
“The haste with which that [the Afrikaners] were processed is astonishing and unprecedented, and involved, I think, a lot of kind of bending rules by the state department and altering procedure,” she said to the BBC.
Her organization is suing the Trump administration after it indefinitely suspended the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) in January. She stated that policy had left more than 120,000 conditionally approved refugees in limbo.
Afrikaner writer Max du Preez told the BBC’s Newsday radio program that allegations of persecution of white South Africans were a “total absurdity” and “based on nothing”.
Farm Crime Statistics and Racial Breakdown
Statistics by the South African police indicate that in 2024, 44 murders were reported on farms and smaller farms of agricultural land, and eight of the victims were farmers.
South Africa reports no crime statistics divided by race but most of the farmers in South Africa are white and other individuals who reside on the farms, like farm workers, are predominantly black.
Bilateral Tensions Over Refugee Policy
US-South African bilateral relations have been tense since President Trump originally commissioned his administration to resettle Afrikaners, a people of primarily Dutch descent, in the US.
In March, South Africa’s US ambassador Ebrahim Rasool was kicked out after accusing President Trump of employing “white victimhood as a dog whistle,” prompting the US to accuse Mr Rasool of “race-baiting.”.
The US has also accused South Africa of adopting an “aggressive” stance against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where Pretoria accused the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of committing genocide against Palestinians – something Israelis strongly deny.
President Trump’s willingness to accept Afrikaner refugees is made as the US has initiated a broader crackdown on migrants and asylum seekers from other nations.