Update News Today May 10,2025,7:22 pm ET
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has made an exception to his freeze on refugee admissions, allowing a specific group—white South Africans of the Afrikaner ethnic minority—to enter the United States. Around 60 Afrikaners are expected to arrive on May 12, following claims by the Trump administration that they face racial persecution in South Africa.
Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch and Huguenot settlers, were historically part of South Africa’s white minority that governed under apartheid—a system of institutionalized racial segregation that ended in 1994. Today, Afrikaners make up a significant portion of South Africa’s 4 million white citizens, within a total population of about 62 million.
https://www.profitableratecpm.com/izpw9zaa4?key=a7a450d9ff4cf620c9acd2f6733a79c4
Many white South Africans argue they are being unfairly targeted under the country’s new Expropriation Act, which allows the government to seize land for public use, sometimes without compensation. Critics, including Trump and his advisors, say the law discriminates against white landowners.
“This is persecution based on a particular characteristic, in this case, race,” said Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, during a press briefing on May 9. “What’s happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created.”
ve order in February prioritizing resettlement of Afrikaners, citing “government-sponsored race-based discrimination.” This came after he halted broader refugee admissions on his first day in office, suspending the longstanding U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
The decision has been met with criticism from South African officials. President Cyril Ramaphosa strongly refuted Trump’s claims, arguing that the land reform law addresses the enduring effects of apartheid, including racial disparities in land ownership. A 2024 study by The Africa Institute and the University of Zambia found that the average Black South African household holds just 5% of the wealth of the average white household.
South Africa’s Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation called the refugee designation “entirely politically motivated,” stating it undermines the country’s democratic progress and misrepresents its efforts to redress past injustices.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, a South African native and prominent Trump supporter, has also publicly criticized the land reform policy. In a show of alignment with Afrikaners, Trump cut off U.S. foreign aid to South Africa in February.
A group of Afrikaner supporters, some wearing red "Make Afrikaners Great Again" hats, held a rally outside the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria on February 15, backing Trump’s stance.
According to The Washington Post, the Afrikaner refugees will arrive at Dulles International Airport on a U.S. State Department-chartered plane. A ceremonial press conference is scheduled upon their arrival. While the State Department declined to confirm the number of arrivals, it acknowledged that interviews and processing had been underway at the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria.
Comments
Post a Comment