Not all asylum seekers are turned away at the border: The US welcomes white South African “refugees”

The Trump adminstration showed today that not all seeking asylum in the US are treated equally.

The federal government chartered a flight of white Afrikaners from South Africa to Dulles, where they will be granted asylum, the right to work, and the right to government benefits. The flights are part of an Executive Order enacted by President Trump in February that noted a new law allowing the government to seize the property of the country’s ethnic minorities without compensation. The president and other prominent right-wingers have promoted a theory that these reforms represent systematic discrimination against white Afrikaners.

In addition to the land reforms enacted by the government, the White House pointed to the case brought to the International Court of Justice against Israel, for the administration’s withdrawal of support.

“The United States cannot support the government of South Africa’s commission of rights violations in its country or its ‘undermining United States foreign policy, which poses national security threats to our Nation, our allies, our African partners, and our interests,” reads the order.

White Afrikaners make up around 7.3 percent of the population, and the negative impact of reforms to correct for the injustices and inequalities created by the racial apartheid that made the group dominate over the Black population for decades, have been a key focus on the president’s foreign policy agenda, both in this term and his first.

NPR reported on May 12 that the Trump administration had chartered a flight from South Africa to Dulles International Airport, and that the 59 white Afrikaners onboard were granted refugee status.

South Africa’s land reform movement

The racial apartheid in South Africa, which restricted land ownership by the Black population, ended in 1990.

The U.K.-based charity, Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA), reported earlier this year that after more than two decades, white Afrikaners still own around 72 percent of the farmland in the country. The white property-owning class has not taken kindly to attempts to redistribute their holdings, and some factions within that group have accused the government of committing a ‘white genocide.’

Billionaire Elon Musk, who is South African and has a close relationship with the president, which was a main feature of the second Trump administration’s first few months in office, has been a vocal critic of the South African government’s land distribution policy and has promoted the ‘white genocide’ theory.

In March, Musk posted on X that the white genocide was not being covered by the mainstream media because it did not “fit their agenda.” Musk and others who promote this theory accuse leaders of the African National Congress, the same party led by Nelson Mandela, of attempting to facilitate a genocide of the white population.

Killings of white farmers are often cited as evidence that genocide is taking place and that white Afrikaners face systematic discrimination.

However, evidence is rarely provided when these claims are asserted. A BBC analysis found that of the 6,953 murders that took place between October and December 2024, only one could be tied to a farmer, and the race was not reported. A total of 12 murders were determined to be “farm attacks.”

“Of the 12, one was a farmer, while five were farm dwellers and four were employees, who are likely to have been Black,” explained the BBC.

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The White House’s move to resettle white South Africans is not only tied to land reform, but a greater accusation of “systemic discrimination,” neglecting the racial and political history of the country, and the efforts to correct for those crimes against humanity. It also comes as the government rejects claims that historical injustices continue to lead to inequalities in the US, with the GOP adamantly opposed to affirmative action, arguing that it discriminates against white and Asian students.

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