NEWS & POLITICS
South Africa condemns U.S. refugee policy favoring white Afrikaners, calls move “Miscalculated”
South Africa has sharply criticized the United States over its recent decision to prioritize refugee applications from white Afrikaners, calling the move “miscalculated” and rooted in false narratives of persecution.
Noluthando Buthelezi
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — November 1 - The policy, introduced under the Trump administration, sets a new annual refugee cap of just 7,500—the lowest in U.S. history—and grants priority to South Africans. This marks a dramatic shift from the 125,000-cap established during President Joe Biden’s tenure.
In an official statement, Pretoria dismissed the claims of “white genocide” as baseless and unsupported by credible evidence, emphasizing that crime and violence in South Africa affect all racial groups. The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said Washington’s stance “distorts South Africa’s realities and fuels racialized misinformation.”
Image: paramountplus - U.S. President Donald Trump holds up an article he claims highlights killings of white South Africans, during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 21, 2025
The narrative of white persecution has also been rejected by many within the Afrikaner community itself. In an open letter, prominent Afrikaner leaders condemned the U.S. refugee prioritization as “racist and patronizing,” arguing that it elevates white suffering while ignoring the broader socio-economic challenges faced by South Africans.
“To call crime in South Africa ‘white genocide,’ when Gaza and Sudan show what genocide really looks like, is crass and narcissistic,” the letter stated, warning that such rhetoric reinforces “a racially driven worldview that values whiteness above others.”
The group further accused Washington of conflating migration with asylum, saying the policy undermines international refugee systems designed to protect genuinely persecuted populations.
South Africa’s foreign ministry also highlighted that few white Afrikaners have shown interest in relocating to the United States, calling it evidence that allegations of targeted persecution are unfounded. Official 2025 crime data supports this view, showing high levels of violent crime across all demographics, with Black South Africans disproportionately affected due to population size and economic disparity.
While the total number of white South Africans applying for asylum remains unclear, the South African Chamber of Commerce in the U.S. confirmed that 59 Afrikaners were resettled in America as of May 2025.
