While migrants from crisis-ridden countries like Venezuela, the Congo, and Afghanistan are being denied refuge or deported to brutal detention centers, Donald Trump and his administration are expected to welcome 54 white South African refugees with full resettlement benefits — despite no ongoing war or humanitarian crisis in their country.
In Venezuela, crime is soaring, the economy is in shambles and political oppression is commonplace. For many, there’s a lack of basic necessities like food and medicine.
Desperate to survive, many Venezuelan migrants came to the United States only to be unfairly branded as criminals and shipped to a El Salvador gulag from which they may never be released. Other migrants from war-torn countries like the Congo and Afghanistan have also been turned away.
Conversely, this week the Trump administration announced it has granted asylum to 54 white South African refugees, with many more expected to follow. Presently there is no war or humanitarian crisis in South Africa, but in an executive order signed in February the president directed the government to grant refugee status to Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch and French colonizers who he claims are being discriminated against.
South African officials deny the accusation.
“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; a country which has in fact suffered true persecution under apartheid rule and has worked tirelessly to prevent such levels of discrimination from ever occurring again,” South Africa’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
On Monday, the Afrikaners will be welcomed personally by “high level officials from the Departments of State and Homeland Security” according to NPR.
That group, constituting a racial minority in South Africa, nonetheless ruled the country for decades, imposing a merciless policy of segregation and discrimination against the Black majority that finally ended after opposition leader Nelson Mandela was released from prison and elected president. Mandela led a period of reconciliation and forgiveness that ended Apartheid without punishing the people who enforced and profited from it.
Some groups representing the rights of white farmers have alleged, with little evidence, that they are being deliberately killed because of their race. The State Department told the BBC they were interviewing individuals interested in resettling in the US, and prioritizing “Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination.”
The Trump administration has also accused South Africa of seizing land from white farmers without compensation, a conspiracy theory forwarded by far-right figures like Tucker Carlson.
It’s no surprise that Trump has bought into the charge of anti-white racism in South Africa. He has said he believes it’s a problem in America, too, telling Time magazine in April 2024, “But if you look right now, there’s absolutely a bias against white (people) and that’s a problem.”
He did not cite and specific examples but has directed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to focus on alleged anti-white, anti-Christian discrimination while all but ignoring any cases of racism against Black and brown people.
South African authorities say they will not block the departures of those chosen for resettlement, but said they had sought assurances from the U.S. that those selected had been fully vetted and did not have pending criminal charges.
The South African statement added that allegations of discrimination against the country’s white minority were unfounded, and that crime statistics did not indicate that any racial group had been targeted in violent crimes on farms.
As the White House accuses South Africa of seizing land from white farmers without compensation, white people in South Africa typically have 20 times the wealth of Blacks, according to an article in the Review of Political Economy. The Black South African unemployment rate is 37 percent greater than the jobless rate for whites.
According to the most recent data on land ownership in South Africa, stark disparities persist nearly three decades after the end of apartheid. Despite making up just 7 percent of the population, white South Africans own approximately 73 percent of all privately held land. In contrast, Black South Africans, who represent more than 80 percent of the population, own just 4 percent. These figures underscore the enduring legacy of land dispossession and the slow pace of land reform in the country.
NPR listed 12 states that have agreed to take in the Afrikaners, including California, West Virginia and New York. The Department of Health and Human Services will assist the refugees with “housing … basic home furnishings, essential household items … groceries, appropriate clothing, diapers, formula, hygiene products and prepaid phones,” according to a memo observed by The New York Times.
Social media users couldn’t help but note how the white South African refugees are being treated.
“All other refugee programs have been suspended aside from, and I sh-t you not, White refugees from South Africa who are fleeing oppression from a nation that had apartheid until the 1980s because they are persecuted for being White. No. Really,” wrote one incredulous X account holder.
Added another, “Trump has suspended refugee resettlement, but is rolling out the red carpet for white South Africans. The administration is sending a delegation to meet them at the airport, and will help them find housing, furniture, and diapers.
I wonder what makes these refugees different.”
Others accused Elon Musk of influencing Trump’s South Africa agenda.
“And Elon Musk is whispering his soggy, white, apartheid breath into Trump’s ear, guiding this decision. Trump never has original ideas,” wrote one commenter.
