U.S. to accept white South African refugees while other programs remain paused

White South Africans demonstrate in support of U.S. President Donald Trump in front of the U.S. embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will welcome more than two dozen white South Africans to the United States as refugees next week, an unusual move because it has suspended most refugee resettlement operations, officials and documents said Friday.

The first Afrikaner refugees are arriving Monday at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press. They are expected to be greeted by a government delegation, including the deputy secretary of state and officials from the Department of Health and Human Services, whose refugee office has organized their resettlement.

The flight will be the first of several in a “much larger-scale relocation effort,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told reporters.

The Trump administration has taken a number of steps against South Africa, accusing the Black-led government of pursuing anti-white policies at home and an anti-American foreign policy. The South African government denies the allegations and says the U.S. criticism is full of misinformation.

While State Department refugee programs have been suspended — halting arrivals from Afghanistan, Iraq, most of sub-Saharan Africa and other countries in a move being challenged in court — President Donald Trump issued an executive order in February prioritizing the processing of white South Africans claiming racial discrimination.

“What’s happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created,” Miller said. “This is persecution based on a protected characteristic — in this case, race. This is race-based persecution.”

Efforts to get white South Africans to the U.S.

Since Trump’s executive order, the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria has been conducting interviews, “prioritizing consideration for U.S. refugee resettlement of Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination,” the State Department said.

The department said nothing about the imminent arrival of what officials said are believed to be more than two dozen white South Africans from roughly four families who applied for resettlement in the U.S. Their arrival had originally been scheduled for early last week but was delayed for reasons that were not immediately clear.

The HHS Office for Refugee Resettlement was ready to offer them support, including with housing, furniture and other household items, and expenses like groceries, clothing, diapers and more, the document says. “This effort is a stated priority of the Administration.”

HHS didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.

Supporters of the refugee program questioned why the Trump administration was moving so quickly to resettle white South Africans while halting the wider refugee program, which brings people to the U.S. who are displaced by war, natural disaster or persecution and involves significant vetting in a process that often takes years.

“We are concerned that the U.S. Government has chosen to fast-track the admission of Afrikaners, while actively fighting court orders to provide life-saving resettlement to other refugee populations who are in desperate need,” Church World Services president Rick Santos said in a statement. His group has been assisting refugees for more than 70 years.

Letting in white South Africans while keeping out Afghans is “hypocrisy,” said Shawn VanDiver, who heads #AfghanEvac, which helps resettle Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the two-decade war.

“Afghans who served alongside U.S. forces, who taught girls, who fought for democracy, and who now face Taliban reprisals, meet every definition of a refugee,” he said. “Afghans risked their lives for us. That should matter,” he said.

Trump administration has accused South Africa of anti-white policies

The Trump administration alleges the South African government has allowed minority white Afrikaner farmers to be persecuted and attacked, while introducing an expropriation law designed to take away their land.

The South African government has said it was surprised by claims of discrimination against Afrikaners because white people still generally have a much higher standard of living than Black people more than 30 years after the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule.

South Africa is the homeland of close Trump adviser Elon Musk, who has been outspoken in his criticism, and it also holds the rotating presidency of the Group of 20 developed and developing nations.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio notably boycotted a G20 foreign ministers meeting in Johannesburg in March because its agenda centered on diversity, inclusion and climate change. He also expelled South Africa’s ambassador to the U.S. in March for comments that the Trump administration interpreted as accusing the president of promoting white supremacy.

Shortly thereafter, the State Department ended all engagement with the G20 during South Africa’s presidency. The U.S. is due to host G20 meetings in 2026.

What South Africa says about the refugees

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office said in a statement Friday that he had spoken with Trump late last month on issues including U.S. criticism of the country and allegations that Afrikaners are being persecuted. Ramaphosa told Trump that the information the U.S. president had received “was completely false.”

“Therefore, our position is that there are no South African citizens that can be classified as refugees to any part of the world, including the U.S.,” the statement said.

The South African foreign ministry said Deputy Foreign Minister Alvin Botes spoke with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau on Friday about the refugees. Landau is expected to lead the delegation to welcome the group Monday.

South Africa “expressed concerns” and denied allegations of discrimination against Afrikaners, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

“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,” the statement said. It noted that the country has worked to prevent any repeat of the type of persecution and discrimination that happened under apartheid rule.

The foreign ministry said it would not block anyone who wanted to leave as it respected their freedom of movement and choice.

But it said it was seeking information about the “status” of the people leaving South Africa, wanting assurances that they had been properly vetted and did not have outstanding criminal cases.

The foreign ministry added that South Africa was “dedicated to constructive dialogue” with the U.S.

Gumede reported from Johannesburg. Associated Press writers Gerald Imray in Cape Town, South Africa, Gisela Salomon in Miami, and Seung Min Kim and Amanda Seitz in Washington contributed to this report.