US-South Africa Relations

White House wants to accept more white South Africans

The White House wants the United States to accept more South Africans – from the Afrikaner ethnic group – as refugees in the coming months, CNN reports. The reason is that the Trump administration believes that there is a "long-standing state-sponsored racial discrimination" in South Africa, directed against white citizens. Afrikaners are descended from Dutch settlers who came to the country during colonial times.

Donald Trump has previously claimed that a genocide against white farmers is taking place in South Africa. However, experts in the country believe that there is no basis for the White House's statement, writes the Washington Post.

Instead, it is emphasized that South Africa suffers from high crime rates in general, which affect citizens regardless of ethnicity.

Trump's move against South Africa — it's about the point

• In May 2025, the United States received a first group of about 50 white South Africans from the Afrikaner minority group, who were granted refugee status.
• The Trump administration justified the decision with claims of racist persecution and genocide against whites in South Africa, which the South African government has firmly denied.
• During a meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in May last year, Donald Trump showed a film that he claimed proved genocide in South Africa, but reviews showed that the material was misleading or showed other countries.
• The United States' new refugee program has prioritized whites and English-speaking people, while other refugees have had to wait significantly longer for asylum decisions.
• Experts and official statistics from South Africa show that violent crimes affect all groups and that there is no evidence of targeted persecution against whites.