The US government plans to increase the number of white South African refugees it admits from 7,500 to 17,500 this year due to an emergency situation. This decision follows claims by Donald Trump regarding racial targeting of white Afrikaners in South Africa.
Key points
US plans to increase white South African refugee admissions to 17,500
Emergency situation cited by the US government
Donald Trump claims white Afrikaners face racial targeting
Mentioned in this story
US governmentSouth AfricaDonald Trump
The US government has said it will increase the number of white South Africans it admits as refugees this year from about 7,500 to 17,500, claiming that “unforeseen developments in South Africa created an emergency refugee situation.”
Since starting his second term in office last year, Donald Trump has repeatedly made false claims that white Afrikaners are racially targeted and face a “white genocide”, which South Africa’s government has furiously rebutted.
On Monday, the US state department sent Congress an emergency notice, stating that it would take up to 17,500 Afrikaners as refugees in the year ending in September. In October, the government had said it would admit just 7,500 refugees in total, mainly white South Africans.
It said the cost of resettling 10,000 more white South Africans would be about $100m (£75m), according to the Associated Press, which saw a copy of the notice.
Q&A
Why is the US increasing the number of white South African refugees?
The US government cites 'unforeseen developments' in South Africa that have created an emergency refugee situation.
How many white South Africans were admitted as refugees before this increase?
Before this increase, the US planned to admit about 7,500 white South Africans as refugees.
What claims has Donald Trump made about white Afrikaners in South Africa?
Donald Trump has made false claims that white Afrikaners are racially targeted and face a 'white genocide,' which has been strongly denied by the South African government.
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The state department said the South African government’s rhetoric “across multiple ministries and political parties has sought to undermine the US resettlement program and attacked Afrikaners”.
It also cited a South African raid of a US refugee processing centre in December, which the US government said at the time was “unacceptable”. South Africa’s government defended the action, saying that it had deported seven Kenyans who were working illegally in the country without permits.
“This escalating hostility heightens the risks to Afrikaners in South Africa, who are already subject to far-reaching government-sponsored race-based discrimination,” the state department notice said.
Afrikaners are descended from Dutch and French settlers and ruled South Africa during apartheid. They repressed the black majority, keeping them in poverty, while ensuring the white minority was safe and wealthy.
Affirmative action policies since the end of apartheid helped to create a black elite and middle class. However, more than 30 years after Nelson Mandela came to power as South Africa’s first black president, South Africa remains deeply unequal. About 12% of white South Africans are unemployed, according to official data, compared with 48% of black South Africans.
Nonetheless, “black economic empowerment” policies, along with high crime rates that affect everyone, have nurtured a feeling among some white South Africans that they are now the victims of racial discrimination.
The conspiracy theory of a white genocide has also long been a staple of the racist far right, which highlights incidents where white farmers were murdered. In recent years, this has also been amplified by the South Africa-born billionaire Elon Musk and the rightwing media personality Tucker Carlson.
