Nearly 5,000 white South Africans of Afrikaner descent have been resettled in the United States under a refugee programme specifically created for them by the Trump administration, according to official data released this week. The figure represents virtually the entire intake of the United States refugee programme for the current fiscal year, raising sharp questions about the programme’s scope, its political motivations, and its implications for South Africa’s racial and political dynamics.
The data, from the US State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, shows that 4,499 people were admitted between October 1 last year and March 31 this year. Of these, 4,496 were South Africans — almost exclusively white Afrikaners, descendants of the first Dutch and German settlers who colonised parts of southern Africa in the 17th and 18th centuries. An additional 340 South Africans were admitted in the previous financial year.
The Programme
The refugee offer made to Afrikaners was unusual in several respects. The Trump administration simultaneously slashed overall US refugee admissions to just 7,500 for the fiscal year — a dramatic cut from the more than 100,000 annual admissions permitted under the Biden administration. The reduction effectively made the South African Afrikaner programme the centrepiece of America’s refugee policy.
The first group of around 50 Afrikaners arrived in the United States on a chartered flight on May 12, 2025. Subsequent arrivals came on commercial flights, with February and March 2026 seeing the highest monthly volumes — more than 1,300 people each month, according to the State Department data.
Pretoria’s Response
The South African government has firmly rejected the characterisation of Afrikaners as victims of persecution. In statements and diplomatic communications, officials have pointed out that black South Africans remain the primary victims of South Africa’s high crime rate and that economic empowerment laws are corrective measures designed to address the stark inequalities inherited from apartheid, not instruments of persecution against white citizens.
Relations between Washington and Pretoria were already strained over a series of policy disagreements before the refugee programme was announced. The tensions escalated in December when South African authorities raided a processing centre set up to fast-track applications for the resettlement programme, prompting a diplomatic protest from the United States.
Historical Context
The Afrikaner community traces its roots in southern Africa to the late 17th century, when Dutch settlers began establishing permanent settlements at the Cape of Good Hope. Apartheid, which gave white Afrikaners privileged access to political power, land, and economic resources, ended with the first democratic elections in 1994.
Critics of the US programme say it distorts the historical record and risks erasing the reality that apartheid was a system of oppression imposed by a white minority — not a persecution of white people by a black majority.
Sources: Africanews, AFP, US State Department Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration, South African government statements.