First Group of White South Africans Arrive in US Under Trump Admin’s Refugee Plan

South Africa has denounced Washington’s move to resettle Afrikaners as refugees as ‘entirely politically motivated.’

The first group of Afrikaners from South Africa to arrive for resettlement listen to remarks from Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau (R) and Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Troy Edgar (not in frame), after they arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Va., on May 12, 2025. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Dozens of white South Africans arrived in the United States on May 12 after being granted refugee status under the Trump administration’s new admission program.

About 49 Afrikaners—a white ethnic minority in South Africa—boarded a chartered flight bound for the District of Columbia, which will then fly to Texas, South African Transport Department spokesperson Collen Msibi said.

“One of the conditions of the permit was to ensure that they were vetted in case one of them has a criminal issue pending,” Msibi was quoted as saying by Reuters.

“Today, the United States sends a clear message, in alignment with the administration’s America First foreign policy agenda, that America will take action to protect victims of racial discrimination,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement.

“No one should have to fear having their property seized without compensation or becoming the victim of violent attacks because of their ethnicity. In the coming months, we will continue to welcome more Afrikaner refugees and help them rebuild their lives in our great country.”

This was the first group of Afrikaners relocated to the United States under a refugee admissions program initiated under President Donald Trump’s Feb. 7 executive order that allows the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees “escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination.”

That executive order was issued after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Expropriation Act into law in January, allowing the expropriation or redistribution of certain unused land. The law aims to address racial disparities in land ownership that stemmed from South Africa’s former apartheid system.

The nation’s government noted that special conditions must be met before expropriating land, including that it has had longtime informal occupants, is unused and owned purely for speculation, or was left abandoned.

In his executive order, Trump stated that Ramaphosa’s government has imposed countless policies “designed to dismantle equal opportunity in employment, education, and business, and hateful rhetoric and government actions fueling disproportionate violence against racially disfavored landowners.”

South Africa’s government has rejected the claims and called Washington’s move to resettle South Africans as refugees “entirely politically motivated.”

“We reiterate that allegations of discrimination are unfounded,” it stated. “Moreover, even if there are allegations of discrimination, it is our view that these do not meet the threshold of persecution required under domestic and international refugee law.”

However, the South African government said that it will not block departures of citizens who seek to leave the country, provided they comply with domestic laws.

Speaking to reporters on May 9, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said the current situation facing Afrikaners in South Africa amounts to “race-based persecution.”

“What was happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created,” Miller said. “This is persecution based on a protected characteristic. In this case, race.”

Trump announced in March that the United States would cut all federal funding to South Africa over its expropriation laws and pledged to resettle white South African farmers affected by the law.

The White House stated in a summary of Trump’s executive order on Feb. 10 that the United States will stop aid and assistance if South Africa “continues to support bad actors on the world stage and allows violent attacks on innocent disfavored minority farmers.”

Jacob Burg, Jackson Richman, and Reuters contributed to this report.