The primary group of white South Africans arrived in the US on Monday after President Donald Trump supplied them a protected haven from what he described as “genocide.” The federal government in Pretoria has firmly denied Trump’s claims that it’s discriminating in opposition to the nation’s white minority or condoning assaults on white farmers.
State Division officers welcomed 59 people – together with babies – at an airport hangar outdoors Washington, D.C. “I would like you all to know that you’re actually welcome right here and that we respect what you could have needed to take care of these previous couple of years,” mentioned Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. He added, “Many of those of us have expertise with threatening invasions of their houses, their farms, and an actual lack of curiosity or success of the federal government in doing something about this case.”
The U.S. had beforehand granted asylum to 54 Afrikaners – the descendants of Dutch colonists – who make up about 7% of South Africa’s inhabitants.
At present @DeputySecState welcomed the primary group of Afrikaner refugees fleeing persecution from their native South Africa. We stand with these refugees, a lot of them farmers and former enterprise house owners, as they construct a greater future for themselves and their kids right here within the… pic.twitter.com/W16RJSU3tB
— Division of State (@StateDept) Could 12, 2025
Talking to reporters on Monday, Trump reaffirmed his dedication to fast-track naturalization for white South Africans. “As a result of they’re being killed, and we don’t need to see individuals be killed,” Trump mentioned. “It’s a genocide that’s going down that you simply individuals don’t need to write about, but it surely’s a horrible factor that’s going down.”
He additionally accused the media of remaining silent about what he known as a marketing campaign in opposition to white farmers, saying, “If it have been the opposite approach round, that may be the one story they’d speak about.”
Trump’s claims of a “white genocide” in South Africa have been echoed by his ally, billionaire Elon Musk, who was born in Pretoria.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa dismissed Trump’s allegations as “utterly false.” International Minister Ronald Lamola said, “There isn’t any knowledge in any respect that backs that there’s persecution of white South Africans, or white Afrikaners particularly, who’re farmers.”
Pretoria has drawn worldwide consideration since passing a controversial regulation in January allowing the expropriation of land – most of which is owned by white farmers – with out compensation. The federal government has framed the measure as a corrective to apartheid-era disparities in land possession.
Presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya said that the state “could not expropriate property arbitrarily or for a objective aside from… within the public curiosity.”
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