Who are Afrikaners? Trump welcomes white South Africans as other refugees are halted
WASHINGTON – After suspending the program for admitting refugees into the United States, President Donald Trump is making an exception for one group: white South Africans, who he claims have been victims of racial discrimination.
A group of 59 South Africans who belong to the white minority Afrikaner ethnic group ‒ classified by the Trump administration as refugees ‒ arrived in the United States on May 12.
For decades, South Africa was controlled under apartheid rule by the country's white minority, many of them descendants of Dutch colonists. Apartheid, a system of legalized segregation, deprived the majority of citizens of basic rights and forced many Black South Africans to live in ethnic Bantustans. It ended in 1994.
Now many white South Africans, who make up a minority of the population, say they're unfairly targeted by a new law that allows the South African government to seize property for the "public interest," in some cases without compensation.
Trump's backing of the Afrikaners goes back to his first term. But he put his support behind the group during his second term after the land seizure policy, known as the Expropriation Act, became law. Trump accused the South African government of "confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY."
“It's a genocide that's taking place," Trump told reporters at the White House on May 12.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau greeted the Afrikaners who arrived at a hangar at Washington's Dulles International Airport. He compared their journey to that of his own father, a Jew from Austria who fled Europe in the 1930s, first to South America and then to the United States.
Their arrival came after Trump signed an executive order in February to resettle Afrikaners "escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination." The action gave special priority to Afrikaners after Trump effectively halted new refugee admissions when he signed a separate order on day one of his presidency, suspending the decades-old U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
"What's happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created," White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told reporters on May 9. "This is persecution based on a particular characteristic, in this case, race. So this is race-based persecution."
Trump adviser and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is from South Africa, has also been openly critical of the Expropriation Act. In February, Trump took action to cut off foreign aid to South Africa.
South Africa is home to an estimated 3 million Afrikaners, who are generally of Dutch and Huguenot descent and form a significant portion of the approximately 4 million white people in South Africa. The country has an overall population of 62 million, about 81% of whom are Black.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has disputed Trump's claims about land confiscation and discrimination against white South Africans. Ramaphosa and other defenders of the Expropriation Act have argued that the policies are needed to reverse the nation’s apartheid-era legacy of disparities in land ownership.
Although apartheid rule ended more than 30 years ago, the typical Black South African household has just 5% of the wealth of the typical white household, according to a 2024 study by researchers at The Africa Institute and the University of Zambia.
"We reiterate that allegations of discrimination are unfounded," South Africa's Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation said in a May 9 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," the statement continues, "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."
The Episcopal Church announced May 12 it would no longer work with refugees for the federal government after it was asked to help settle the Afrikaners.
"It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years," Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe wrote in a letter to the church's followers.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, called the move "baffling."
"The decision by this administration to put one group at the front of the line is clearly politically motivated and an effort to rewrite history," she said in a statement May 12.
Contributing: Francesca Chambers.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.