A group of 49 white South Africans who have been granted refugee status by the United States on the grounds of racial discrimination departed for Washington on Monday, May 12, 2025, marking the first set of such arrivals under a policy direction introduced by President Donald Trump.
While the Trump administration notably restricted refugee admissions for applicants from non-white majority countries, it made exceptions for Afrikaners —descendants of mostly Dutch settlers, citing alleged racial persecution. The decision to prioritize this group has ignited both domestic and international criticism, with many viewing the move as politically motivated and racially selective.
USAfricaonline.com notes that the Trump favored group, the Afrikaners, championed the brutal bigotry of apartheid and racist discrimination against indigenous Black Africans and other races in South Africa and the southern African region
The decision to treat white South Africans as refugees has drawn skepticism and condemnation from South African officials, who argue the U.S. has overstepped by intervening in a nuanced domestic issue. Local media coverage has been sparse, with many news outlets placing the term “refugees” in quotation marks, reflecting widespread disbelief over their classification.
A chartered aircraft transporting the group departed from Johannesburg and was expected to land at Washington Dulles International Airport around 12:30 p.m. local time. Sources familiar with the matter indicated that the individuals would attend a press conference upon arrival before continuing to various U.S. destinations. Some are relocating to states like Minnesota, known for its support of refugee resettlement, while others are heading to conservative strongholds such as Idaho and Alabama.
South African Government says Trump’s White House has it “wrong”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa responded critically, suggesting the U.S. had misunderstood the context behind the departures.
“We think that the American government has got the wrong end of the stick here, but we’ll continue talking to them,” he said, speaking at a conference in Ivory Coast.
Ramaphosa asserted that the individuals were likely objecting to domestic policies aimed at redressing decades of racial inequality stemming from apartheid.
In Cape Town, members of the public interviewed by Reuters expressed little animosity toward the departing group, though many questioned whether life in the U.S. would be any better.
“I don’t believe in running away from problems, you know, we’ve got a lovely country, and we make it work,” said Robert Skeen, a 47-year-old Afrikaner selling boerewors rolls.
“We’re really blessed in South Africa, … with all the drama going on, it’s still one of the best countries in the world to live in.”
Despite the end of apartheid in 1994 under Nelson Mandela’s leadership, South Africa continues to grapple with severe wealth disparities. According to the Review of Political Economy, white South Africans still own around 75% of private land and possess roughly 20 times the wealth of the Black majority. Employment data shows that fewer than 10% of white South Africans are unemployed, compared to over 33% of Black citizens.
U.S. Policy and Ideological Undertones
Claims of anti-white discrimination in South Africa have become a recurring narrative in far-right online spaces and have been echoed by prominent figures like Elon Musk, a South African-born U.S. citizen and Trump ally. These views appear to have influenced U.S. refugee policy under Trump.
Reuters spoke with three South Africans who had undergone preliminary asylum interviews at the U.S. embassy in Pretoria. They said they were questioned about experiences related to land disputes, racial discrimination, and crime.
President Ramaphosa recently signed legislation aimed at simplifying land expropriation in the public interest—a reform that has unsettled some white South Africans, though no land seizures have occurred to date.
Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has halted all U.S. financial aid to South Africa, citing disapproval of its land reform policies and its legal action at the International Court of Justice against Israel, a close U.S. ally.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed that the department is coordinating with the State Department to support the resettlement process, though no details were provided about the type of assistance involved. The official also noted that additional arrivals are anticipated in the coming months. The charter flight carrying the 49 South Africans was reportedly funded by the U.S State Department.
The NPR has reported that this move by Trump has compelled an end to a nearly four-decades-old relationship between the federal government and the Episcopal Church, the denomination announced on Monday, May 12, 2025 that it is terminating its partnership with the government to resettle refugees, citing moral opposition to resettling white Afrikaners from South Africa.
The Most Rev. Sean W. Rowe — the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church — said that two weeks ago, the U.S government “informed Episcopal Migration Ministries that under the terms of our federal grant, we are expected to resettle white Afrikaners from South Africa whom the U.S. government has classified as refugees.” Bishop Rowe said that request/demand crossed a moral line for the Episcopal Church, which is part of the global Anglican Communion.
