Afrikaners Seeking US Asylum Leave Behind a Deeply Divided Country

The head of South Africa’s largest agricultural association said white-owned farms are frequently invaded ‘by local politicians and radical groups.’

The first group of Afrikaners from South Africa to arrive for resettlement listens to remarks from U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and U.S. Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Troy Edgar (both out of frame), after arriving at Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Va., on May 12, 2025. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

JOHANNESBURG—U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to allow white Afrikaners to seek asylum in the United States from state-sponsored “racial discrimination,” “hateful rhetoric,” and “disproportionate violence” in South Africa has not gone down well in some quarters.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa described them as “cowards,” according to the BBC.