A group of 49 Afrikaners, members of South Africa’s white minority, arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport on Monday, making them the first group of South African refugees admitted under a new, highly controversial program authorized by President Donald Trump earlier this year.
The group departed Johannesburg over the weekend and landed in the United States under a special resettlement initiative created by Trump’s February 2025 executive order, which accuses the South African government of enacting racially discriminatory policies that disproportionately impact white citizens.
“What’s happening in South Africa is a genocide,” President Trump said Monday during a signing ceremony for a separate pharmaceutical pricing bill.
“White farmers are being brutally killed and their land is being confiscated. I don’t care about their race or their color, I just know what’s happening is terrible.”
Trump has repeatedly cited violence against white farmers and a controversial new land reform policy as justification for the program.
According to the February order, his administration claims the South African government is pursuing policies that undermine “equal opportunity in employment, education, and business. “
This comes just months after South Africa enacted the Expropriation Act in January 2025, a law intended to address historical injustices by allowing the state to seize land without compensation in certain circumstances.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa defended the law in a January post on X (formerly Twitter), stating it was “a legal process that ensures public access to land in an equitable and just manner as guided by the constitution.”
Despite critics’ concerns, no land seizures have occurred under the law to date. The Washington Post reports that such action would be subject to a judge’s review.
Nevertheless, Trump’s executive order claims the law has already contributed to a climate of “state-sponsored racial hostility,” with Afrikaner landowners at particular risk.
Upon landing, the Afrikaners, none of whom spoke publicly about their experiences, were met by U.S. officials and refugee resettlement partners.
Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau, who was at the airport, addressed the group.
“I want you all to know that you are really welcome here and that we respect what you have had to deal with these last few years,” Landau said, according to the Associated Press. “We respect the long tradition of your people and what you have accomplished over the years.”
The refugees will be resettled in ten different U.S. states, though officials have not released the specific locations for privacy and security reasons.
Landau defended the administration’s decision to prioritize Afrikaners, telling reporters that the group had been “carefully vetted pursuant to our refugee standards,” and that they were selected based on their ability to assimilate and lack of national security risk.
The decision to resettle white South Africans has drawn intense criticism from refugee advocacy groups, legal scholars, and international observers.
Critics point out that Trump has halted or drastically limited refugee admissions from countries facing active war, famine, and persecution, such as Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Afghanistan, while fast-tracking white South Africans, a group historically tied to apartheid and still disproportionately wealthy.
“It’s ironic,” the South African government said in a February statement, “that the Trump administration is taking in refugees from a group that remains amongst the most economically privileged in South Africa, while vulnerable people from around the world are being denied asylum.”
Chrispin Phiri, spokesperson for South Africa’s Foreign Ministry, said last week that the administration’s allegations “do not meet the threshold of persecution required under domestic and international refugee law” and warned the move could harm bilateral relations.
In response, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly doubled down, stating:
“President Trump is offering needed assistance to resettle persecuted minorities in South Africa because a commitment to human rights is central to the America First agenda.”
Kelly further accused the South African government of supporting “terrorist and autocratic regimes” and ignoring “tragic persecution claims of Afrikaners.”
Trump’s broader refugee strategy remains highly restrictive. On his first day in office this term, he ordered Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to suspend general refugee admissions until a national interest assessment could be completed. That report is still pending.
“To ensure that public safety and national security are paramount considerations,” the February order stated, “refugees should only be admitted if they can fully and appropriately assimilate into the country.”
The criteria to qualify for the Afrikaner program include being of South African nationality, Afrikaner ethnicity or minority racial status, and having a “well-founded fear of persecution.”
While critics say the selective refugee policy is racially motivated, Trump insisted otherwise at a Monday press conference:
“They happen to be white, but whether they are white or Black makes no difference to me.”
Still, legal challenges are emerging. Several refugee aid organizations have filed lawsuits claiming the February executive order violates U.S. refugee law and constitutional protections.
President Trump is expected to meet with South African leadership next week. However, he said Monday he “doesn’t know” if he can attend “unless that situation is taken care of,” referring to the alleged discrimination against Afrikaners.
In the meantime, refugee organizations remain concerned about the long-term implications of a racially selective humanitarian program, especially as it contrasts sharply with the treatment of non-white asylum seekers.
As the first group of white South African refugees begins life in America, the debate surrounding their arrival and the policies that enabled it is likely to intensify on both sides of the Atlantic.
