US to accept white South African refugees while other programs remain
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[May 10, 2025]
By MATTHEW LEE, REBECCA SANTANA and MICHELLE GUMEDE
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration will welcome more than two
dozen white South Africans to the United States as refugees next week,
an unusual move because it has suspended most refugee resettlement
operations, officials and documents said Friday.
The first Afrikaner refugees are arriving Monday at Dulles International
Airport outside Washington, according to a document obtained by The
Associated Press. They are expected to be greeted by a government
delegation, including the deputy secretary of state and officials from
the Department of Health and Human Services, whose refugee office has
organized their resettlement.
The flight will be the first of several in a “much larger-scale
relocation effort,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller
told reporters.
The Trump administration has taken a number of steps against South
Africa, accusing the Black-led government of pursuing anti-white
policies at home and an anti-American foreign policy. The South African
government denies the allegations and says the U.S. criticism is full of
misinformation.
While State Department refugee programs have been suspended — halting
arrivals from Afghanistan, Iraq, most of sub-Saharan Africa and other
countries in a move being challenged in court — President Donald Trump
issued an executive order in February prioritizing the processing of
white South Africans claiming racial discrimination.
“What’s happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why
the refugee program was created,” Miller said. “This is persecution
based on a protected characteristic — in this case, race. This is
race-based persecution.”
Efforts to get white South Africans to the US
Since Trump's executive order, the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria has been
conducting interviews, “prioritizing consideration for U.S. refugee
resettlement of Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust
racial discrimination,” the State Department said.
The department said nothing about the imminent arrival of what officials
said are believed to be more than two dozen white South Africans from
roughly four families who applied for resettlement in the U.S. Their
arrival had originally been scheduled for early last week but was
delayed for reasons that were not immediately clear.
The HHS Office for Refugee Resettlement was ready to offer them support,
including with housing, furniture and other household items, and
expenses like groceries, clothing, diapers and more, the document says.
“This effort is a stated priority of the Administration."
HHS didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.
Supporters of the refugee program questioned why the Trump
administration was moving so quickly to resettle white South Africans
while halting the wider refugee program, which brings people to the U.S.
who are displaced by war, natural disaster or persecution and involves
significant vetting in a process that often takes years.
“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,” Church World Services president Rick Santos said in a
statement. His group has been assisting refugees for more than 70 years.
Letting in white South Africans while keeping out Afghans is
“hypocrisy,” said Shawn VanDiver, who heads #AfghanEvac, which helps
resettle Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the two-decade war.
“Afghans who served alongside U.S. forces, who taught girls, who fought
for democracy, and who now face Taliban reprisals, meet every definition
of a refugee," he said. “Afghans risked their lives for us. That should
matter,” he said.
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White South Africans demonstrate in support of U.S. President Donald
Trump in front of the U.S. embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, Feb.
15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
Trump administration has accused South Africa of anti-white
policies
The Trump administration alleges the South African government has
allowed minority white Afrikaner farmers to be persecuted and
attacked, while introducing an expropriation law designed to take
away their land.
The South African government has said it was surprised by claims of
discrimination against Afrikaners because white people still
generally have a much higher standard of living than Black people
more than 30 years after the end of the apartheid system of white
minority rule.
South Africa is the homeland of close Trump adviser Elon Musk, who
has been outspoken in his criticism, and it also holds the rotating
presidency of the Group of 20 developed and developing nations.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio notably boycotted a G20 foreign
ministers meeting in Johannesburg in March because its agenda
centered on diversity, inclusion and climate change. He also
expelled South Africa’s ambassador to the U.S. in March for comments
that the Trump administration interpreted as accusing the president
of promoting white supremacy.
Shortly thereafter, the State Department ended all engagement with
the G20 during South Africa’s presidency. The U.S. is due to host
G20 meetings in 2026.
What South Africa says about the refugees
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office said in a statement
Friday that he had spoken with Trump late last month on issues
including U.S. criticism of the country and allegations that
Afrikaners are being persecuted. Ramaphosa told Trump that the
information the U.S. president had received “was completely false.”
“Therefore, our position is that there are no South African citizens
that can be classified as refugees to any part of the world,
including the U.S.,” the statement said.
The South African foreign ministry said Deputy Foreign Minister
Alvin Botes spoke with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher
Landau on Friday about the refugees. Landau is expected to lead the
delegation to welcome the group Monday.
South Africa “expressed concerns" and denied allegations of
discrimination against Afrikaners, the foreign ministry said in a
statement.
“It is most regrettable that it appears that the resettlement of
South Africans to the United States under the guise of being
‘refugees’ is entirely politically motivated and designed to
question South Africa’s constitutional democracy,” the statement
said. It noted that the country has worked to prevent any repeat of
the type of persecution and discrimination that happened under
apartheid rule.
The foreign ministry said it would not block anyone who wanted to
leave as it respected their freedom of movement and choice.
But it said it was seeking information about the “status” of the
people leaving South Africa, wanting assurances that they had been
properly vetted and did not have outstanding criminal cases.
The foreign ministry added that South Africa was “dedicated to
constructive dialogue” with the U.S.
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Gumede reported from Johannesburg. Associated Press writers Gerald
Imray in Cape Town, South Africa, Gisela Salomon in Miami, and Seung
Min Kim and Amanda Seitz in Washington contributed to this report.
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