Drive to save thousands of Afrikaners from false claims of ‘white genocide’ appears to show signs of slowing
When Donald Trump announced in February 2025 that the US would accept Afrikaners from South Africa as refugees, many white South Africans who believed that they were victims of racism in their country thought that their prayers had been answered.
However, in the past few months, dozens of applicants to the refugee programme have been rejected, with many left dismayed and confused as to why they would be left to face what Trump has falsely claimed is a “white genocide” in South Africa.
After Trump’s February 2025 executive order announcing the resettlement programme, which was expanded to include members of a “racial minority”, the first group of 68 white South Africans arrived in the US that May. The US also shut down the refugee programme for anyone else fleeing war and persecution.
Since then, more than 13,000 have moved to the US, according to state department figures. Arrivals are also accelerating, with more than 2,600 admitted in August.
Afrikaners, descended from Dutch and French settlers, ruled South Africa during apartheid. The regime repressed the black majority, while keeping white people safe and wealthy.
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