The Trump administration has admitted 49 white South Africans to the U.S. as refugees, citing “government-sponsored racial discrimination,” according to a senior State Department official.
Most of the group are Afrikaners from farming communities. President Donald Trump ordered their resettlement through an executive action titled “Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa,” claiming they face violence and economic exclusion.
The move comes amid an ongoing dispute over South Africa’s land reform efforts. In 2017, an audit found that white South Africans—who make up about 7% of the population—own roughly 75% of individually held farmland.
A 2025 law allows limited expropriation without compensation, which the Trump administration framed as targeting whites. South African officials say the policy is intended to address the legacy of apartheid, during which the Afrikaner-led government denied Black South Africans land rights, political representation, and basic freedoms under a formal system of racial segregation that lasted from 1948 to 1994.
South Africa’s government rejected Trump’s refugee designation, calling the persecution claims “completely false” and politically motivated. “There is no data at all that backs that there is persecution of white South Africans,” said Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola.
Critics in the U.S., including Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, questioned why this group was prioritized while refugee programs for people fleeing war and famine remain suspended.
🔗Head to our bio to download the Ground News app and read the full story as reported by 53 sources.
