First group of white South Africans leave for US after Trump offers refugee status
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First white South Africans leave for US as Trump refugees
- Forty-nine white South Africans, classified as refugees by the Trump administration, have left for the United States.
- This is the first group of Afrikaners to be relocated since President Trump's executive order alleging racial discrimination against them by South Africa's government.
- The South African government denies these persecution claims, stating Afrikaners are among the most economically privileged.
- The U.S. government is providing resettlement support to the arriving Afrikaners, while refugee groups question the prioritisation of this group over those from war-torn countries.
- The Trump administration views this as the start of a larger relocation effort, citing the situation in South Africa as "race-based persecution."