Dozens of white South Africans arrived in the United States on Monday on a chartered jet after being granted refugee status by the Trump administration, which has made it virtually impossible for any other refugees to seek safe haven in America.
The arrival represents a drastic reversal in the United States’ refugee policies, which have long focused on helping people fleeing war, famine and genocide. The South Africans say they have been discriminated against, denied job opportunities and have been subject to violence because of their race — though the specifics of their cases are unclear.
“Farmers are being killed,” Mr. Trump told reporters before leaving for a trip to the Middle East. “They happen to be white. Whether they are white or Black makes no difference to me. White farmers are being brutally killed, and the land is being confiscated in South Africa.”
South African police data does not support the narrative of mass murder. From April 2020 to March 2024, 225 people were killed on farms in South Africa, according to the police. But many of the victims — 101 — were current or former workers living on farms, who are mostly Black. Fifty-three of the victims were farmers, who are usually white.
Mr. Trump’s focus on this small group of refugees only served to underscore the tens of thousands of people all over the world whom his administration has decided to keep out, including Afghans who helped U.S. soldiers during the war in Afghanistan and Congolese citizens who had already been vetted and cleared to travel before Mr. Trump took office.
Mr. Trump essentially halted refugee admission programs on his first day in office before creating a pathway for Afrikaners, a white ethnic minority that ruled during apartheid in South Africa, to resettle in the United States.
The Trump administration approved their applications in under three months, much faster than is typical. Some cases take years to move through the system.
Mr. Trump said on Monday that the United States had “essentially extended citizenship” to the group of Afrikaners because he said they were victims of a genocide.
The flight, a Omni Air International charter flight funded by the United States, departed South Africa on Sunday with around 50 people, according to a spokesman for South Africa’s airport authority, after more than 8,000 people expressed interest in the refugee program. The U.S. government has been planning to resettle the Afrikaners in states including Iowa, Idaho and New York, according two people with knowledge of the plans.
Thea Van Straten, one of the arrivals from South Africa, said she had been attacked four times on her farm in South Africa, most recently the day before her interview with U.S. officials in South Africa.
“It’s not safe,” Ms. Van Straten said in an interview with Colonel Chris Wyatt, an independent journalist and retired Army officer, before leaving for the United States.
Ms. Van Straten said she owned a farm with a guesthouse and cattle. She expressed exasperation over the feeling that Afrikaners continued to be blamed for the sins of the apartheid government.
“Most of us, I believe, that’s in this group, we had no say over that law,” she said. “It was just there, and we are just the backlash. And, I mean, come on now. It ended 31 years ago. How long are we going to carry on?”
Charl Kleinhaus, 46, who said he had a farm in Limpopo, South Africa, was traveling with his family to Buffalo after landing at Washington Dulles International Airport.
“We just packed our bags and left,” he said, for “safety reasons.”
Two top U.S. officials — Christopher Landau, the deputy secretary of state, and Troy Edgar, the deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security — met the group of Afrikaners on Monday when they arrived at Dulles. Both men spoke about their own families’ experiences fleeing persecution.
“A lot of you I think are farmers, right?” Mr. Landau said. “When you have quality seeds, you can put them in foreign soil and they will blossom. They will bloom. We are excited to welcome you here to our country, where we think you will bloom.”
The new refugee program for South Africans, which the State Department says is for any racial minority in the country, has exacerbated tensions between the United States and South Africa. The South African government has rejected the Trump administration’s claim that the Afrikaners should be eligible for refugee status.
Three decades after the end of apartheid, white South Africans continue to dominate land ownership. They are also employed at much higher rates than Black South Africans and suffer from poverty at much lower rates.
“It is most regrettable that it appears that the resettlement of South Africans to the United States under the guise of being ‘refugees’ is entirely politically motivated and designed to question South Africa’s constitutional democracy,” Chrispin Phiri, a spokesman for South Africa’s Foreign Ministry, said in a statement.
But Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff who has overseen the administration’s immigration policy, said the situation in South Africa fit “the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created.”
“This is persecution based on a protected characteristic — in this case, race,” he said. “This is race-based persecution.”
In February, Mr. Trump signed an executive order suspending all foreign assistance to South Africa and announced his administration would work to resettle “Afrikaner refugees” because of the South African government’s actions that “racially disfavored landowners.” Mr. Trump was referring to a recently enacted law, known as the Expropriation Act, which in some cases allows the government to acquire privately held land in the public interest without paying compensation. But that step can be done only after a justification process subject to judicial review.
The decision to prioritize Afrikaners has also affected the nonprofit community that supports the resettlement of refugees, with at least one group — the Episcopal Migration Ministries — severing its relationship with the government.
“Just over two weeks ago, the federal government informed Episcopal Migration Ministries that under the terms of our federal grant, we are expected to resettle white Afrikaners from South Africa whom the U.S. government has classified as refugees,” Bishop Sean W. Rowe of the Episcopal Church wrote in a letter Monday. “In light of our Church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step.”
Some groups, including the International Rescue Committee, have agreed to help, noting that they assist any individual who comes through federally funded programs. But the organization says that the admission of the Afrikaners proves the United States could bring in other refugees in dire need of help.
“The Trump administration should bring operations for all resettlement processes fully back online and restore refugee resettlement,” Cinthya Hagemeier, a spokeswoman for the International Rescue Committee, said in a statement. “In the midst of a complete suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, the arrival of these families shows the U.S. has the capacity to remain a welcoming nation that provides a lifeline for people seeking safety from violence and persecution.”
More than 10,000 refugees had plane tickets to come to the United States as refugees after undergoing extensive security vetting, as of Jan. 20. Last week, a federal court judge ordered the Trump administration to allow refugees who were cleared to travel before Jan. 20 to enter the country despite the ongoing refugee ban.
A handful of protesters gathered at Dulles to demonstrate against the arrival of the Afrikaners. Among them were Kenn Speicher, 73, from Arlington, Va., who carried a sign that read, “Real refugees are still waiting.” Mr. Speicher said he did volunteer work in Haiti for years after the devastating earthquake in 2010 and met Haitians who eventually came to the United States under a special status. The Trump administration has since threatened to revoke that protection.
“These people have gotten special treatment,” Mr. Speicher said of the Afrikaners. “I don’t know their situations, but they’ve been expedited in three months, and here they are, and it’s for political reasons.”
Elizabeth Dias contributed reporting.
