White South Africans granted US refugee status under controversial Trump policy

A group of 49 white South Africans has arrived in the US under a contentious refugee program that critics say prioritizes race over need.

The Afrikaners, including families with young children, landed at Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C., on Monday following a layover in Dakar, Senegal, after departing South Africa on a chartered flight the previous day.

The move has been sharply criticized by human rights organizations and refugee advocates, who argue that the Trump administration is favoring a white ethnic minority while denying resettlement to people fleeing war and famine in crisis zones such as Sudan.

Refugee experts say the Afrikaners, who are descendants of European colonists and once led South Africa’s apartheid regime, do not meet the standard definitions of vulnerability. Yet the Trump administration has framed their resettlement as a response to alleged racial persecution in South Africa — a claim the South African government forcefully rejects.

“We reiterate that allegations of discrimination are unfounded,” said South Africa’s Ministry of Interior Relations in a statement on Friday. “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 and designed to question South Africa’s constitutional democracy.”

Despite the criticism, the White House views the relocation as a starting point. “This is persecution based on a protected characteristic — in this case, race. This is race-based persecution,” said Stephen Miller, Deputy Chief of Staff in the Trump administration. He described the chartered flight as the beginning of a “much larger-scale relocation effort.”

The Afrikaner families are expected to receive government support in the US, including assistance with housing, food, and basic needs.

The refugee transfer comes amid broader tensions between Washington and Pretoria. The Trump administration recently condemned South Africa’s role in bringing a genocide case against the Israeli Occupation at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), describing the move as part of the country’s “aggressive positions towards the US.”